New AFP Poll Points to Communications Problem with General Assembly
Voters are seemingly unaware that the GOP is doing good work.
PunditHouse just received a press release from Americans for Prosperity that includes the results of a recent poll conducted with 1,000 likely North Carolina voters.
The results are pretty telling and speak to a common thread of conversation among conservative activists. That being:
While North Carolinians support the actions of the General Assembly, they don’t realize it. Overall, our GOP majorities have done a rather poor job communicating their successes and their policies with the general public. This isn’t an across the board indictment, as some officials do release semi-regular newsletters. Of course, these go to mailing lists mostly made up of people already tuned into the political process.
Trying to work with mainstream “legacy” media will only get them so far since more often than not there is a liberal bias. It’s fighting an uphill battle.
What conservatives do have is a pretty robust (and growing) community of online activists and internet media. This could be a remarkable tool for building a narrative first, and then capitalizing on momentum to move forward with positive initiatives. What we’ve seen on a number of issues is a General Assembly that jumps into the middle of things seemingly out of nowhere (airport, anyone?) and then struggles to play catch-up with explanations…many of which are good, just late.
PunditHouse, for example, is more than willing to share commentary on issues and positions in unedited form straight from the offices of elected Reps. To date, such requests have generally been met with ambivalence.
Winning the political debate is more than about just “being right”. It’s more about the culture surrounding issues and the activation of people invested in seeing positive change. You can do all the good you want…things that people even generically support…but if they don’t know you are doing it, or what you are doing is misrepresented, then you’ve lost the long term fight.
Case in point, and I’ll post the results of the poll below with the accompanying press release, but regarding recent NC tax reform, while 70% approved the lowering of rates and over 60% believed that states with lower rates are more competitive, 66% considered the job done by legislators to address the economy as “fair or poor”. Of those that had even heard of the tax reform that passed, a minority of the total poll population, the highest category of respondents was “strongly opposed” at 30%. That last bit shows me that of the people who are tuned in, it’s the left that is doing a better job at framing their arguments and sharing them with the people.
Folks, that has got to change.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Monday, November 4, 2013 A new Americans for Prosperity poll indicates that a majority of likely North Carolina voters are in favor of the tax reform legislation passed and signed into law this year.
Sixty-two (62) percent of voters believe that states with lower taxes are more likely to be economically competitive. Sixty (60) percent of voters approve of lowering North Carolina’s corporate tax rate, and a staggering seventy (70) percent of voters approve of lowering the current three personal income tax rates to a lower, single rate.
“It’s clear that North Carolinians have not received a lot of information about the tax reform package that the Governor and General Assembly passed this year, but when they are told about specifics of the new law, they overwhelmingly approve,” said Chris Marie Farr, Acting State Director for Americans for Prosperity’s North Carolina chapter. “In fact, voters believe that lowering the corporate tax will attract more businesses to North Carolina, and they want state government to be better at controlling its spending.”
Sixty-seven (67) percent of those polled said that businesses were more likely to move to North Carolina due to the lowering of the corporate tax rate.
Sixty-three (63) percent of voters said they disagreed with the notion that state government spending should increase every year. Going a step further, fifty-two (52) percent of voters were supportive of legislation to create a Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR), which would limit the growth rate of the state budget.
Farr continued, “We are excited and surprised by these poll results. Voters do not know a lot about the conservative tax reforms from the 2013 legislative session, but we view this as a great opportunity to educate the public. It also tells us that voters want groups like AFP to continue to fight to rein in government spending.”
The survey of 1,000 likely voters in North Carolina was conducted by Pulse Opinion Research on October 28-29, 2013. Pulse Opinion Research, LLC is an independent public opinion research firm using automated polling methodology and procedures licensed from Rasmussen Reports, LLC. The margin for error on the national results is +/-3.0 percent.
Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is a nationwide organization of citizen-leaders committed to advancing every individual’s right to economic freedom and opportunity. AFP believes reducing the size and intrusiveness of government is the best way to promote individual productivity and prosperity for all Americans. For more information, visit www.americansforprosperity.org
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Text of questions:
1* Are economic conditions in North Carolina getting better or worse?
10% Better
27% Worse
10% Staying the same
53% Not sure2* How would you rate the job your state lawmakers are doing when it comes to dealing with the economy and jobs during the 2013 North Carolina legislative session?
3% Excellent
12% Good
34% Fair
32% Poor
19% Not sure3* How much have you heard about tax reform that was passed during the 2013 North Carolina legislative session?
19% A lot
28% Some
35% Not that much
14% Nothing at all
5% Not sure
4* (Only those who said “A lot” or “Some” to having heard about tax reform – 469 likely votes) Generally speaking, do you strongly support, somewhat support, somewhat oppose or strongly oppose the tax reform that passed during the 2013 North Carolina legislative session?
13% Strongly support
29% Somewhat support
17% Somewhat oppose
30% Strongly oppose
11% Not sure5* Let’s talk about state taxes. A state is considered to be more economically competitive than another state if it attracts more businesses and has more economic activity. Which are more economically competitive — states with higher taxes or states with lower taxes?
13% States with higher taxes
62% States with lower taxes
25% Not sure
6* Next you are going to hear about tax reform that passed during the 2013 North Carolina legislative session. You will hear a number of components of the reform, and will be asked to react to each one individually. At the end of the series, you will be asked to think about all of the reforms together.
The current tax rate on businesses is 6.9 percent. Because of the tax reform that passed in July of this year, the corporate tax will be lowered to 6 percent in 2014 and again to 5 percent in 2015. Do you approve or disapprove of this change?
60% Approve
32% Disapprove
8% Not sure7* Are businesses more or less likely to move to North Carolina because the corporate tax rate is lower?
67% More likely
10% Less likely
15% No difference
7% Not sure8* Currently, personal income is taxed in three brackets ranging between 6 percent and 7.75 percent, based on your income. In 2014 the rate will fall to 5.8 percent for everyone. In 2015 it will fall to 5.75 percent for everyone. In general, do you approve or disapprove of this tax change?
70% Approve
16% Disapprove
15% Not sure
9* As I just mentioned, the state income tax system is changing from three different rates based on income to a single flat rate. That means that all taxpayers will pay the same percentage of their income in taxes. In general, is a flat rate more fair or less fair than having three different rates?
46% More fair
37% Less fair
16% Not sure
10* The recently passed tax reform will reduce the growth in the amount of money the state government takes in through tax collections by approximately $2.5 billion over the next 5 years. It is still projected to collect more overall in taxes as the economy grows. Does knowing this make you more supportive or less supportive of the new tax reform?
45% More supportive
21% Less supportive
19% No difference
15% Not sure11* In general, do you strongly agree, somewhat agree, somewhat disagree or strongly disagree that the state government should increase spending every single year?
12% Strongly agree
23% Somewhat agree
29% Somewhat disagree
33% Strongly disagree
4% Not sure12* Let’s turn now to future legislation. A bill has been filed at the North Carolina General Assembly to create a Taxpayer Bill of Rights. A Taxpayer Bill of Rights would amend the State Constitution to limit the annual growth rate of the state budget to only increases in inflation and the state’s population. Do you strongly favor, somewhat favor, somewhat oppose or strongly oppose this Taxpayer Bill of Rights for North Carolina?
24% Strongly favor
28% Somewhat favor
10% Somewhat oppose
12% Strongly oppose
27% Not sure
Hey – off topic but why the silence on the mayor’s race? Are you, like me, not thrilled with the aptly named Peacock but loathe to support a Dem? Just wondering…
It’s a question of time and effort. There is so much more I would like to do with this site, and the local conservative community as a whole, but working two other jobs and with political meetings seemingly endlessly keeping me from home, I just can’t do it right now. I would love to do this full time (combined with some other elements I have envisioned) and really start to have an impact locally!
Since you asked though, I’m not happy with either candidate. Neither shares my political philosophy. I would vote for Peacock as I believe he would be less damaging on some issues here and there than Cannon, but he certainly won’t inspire any change in the political culture and move the conversation towards the right. I do hope he wins.
In the At-Large race, Dennis Peterson is far and away the most qualified and the most in tuned with what’s needed to begin to fix this city. I highly and enthusiastically support him as one of the four slots you can fill.
I see that AFP continues to poll in its own living room then claim victory. I’ll remember this ‘poll’ next November.
Why? You’ll just be on here whining about redistricting or Republican ‘hacking’ of the voting machines (if there were republican hackers where are the contents of Democrat and leftist emails? Where is Obama’s Columbia transcripts? We sure got enough of Palin and others from the left).
Hahahahaha! Um, no. After the public rakes the wing nuts over the coals next November this poll will look like nothing more than what it is, propaganda.
Most nutroots voters are stupid. They thought Jim Black, Mike Sleazey, and Ma Perdue were Repuplicans and the GOP controlled the #NCGA for decades because Jesse Helms was in the Senate. I mean you yourself admit they are too stupid to get some kind of picture ID. What will they do if they cannot push that (D) button.
Our nuts will be fine. Obama opposes coal and the electric grill will be built by his Healthcare.gov developer.