— North Carolina has been without a budget for almost nine months because of a stalemate between Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper and the Republican-controlled legislature over Medicaid, teacher pay and business tax cuts. A new WRAL News poll shows Cooper is winning the popular vote in the ongoing battle.

Almost three-quarters of those polled said they would prefer school funding be increased rather than taxes cut, and a majority called for expanding Medicaid coverage to more of the state's working poor, according to the exclusive poll by SurveyUSA.

SurveyUSA polled 2760 adults statewide between Feb. 13 and Sunday in the scientific survey, producing a credibility interval in the results of plus or minus 2.1 to 2.6 percent.

Given a choice between providing more money for public schools or cutting business taxes to boost the economy, 71 percent of respondents said school funding was more important. Fewer than one-fifth said tax cuts should be the budget priority, while 9 percent said they weren't sure.

GOP lawmakers included a rollback of North Carolina's franchise tax in the $24 billion state budget they passed last summer, saying it would save businesses statewide an estimated $250 million. But Cooper vetoed the budget, saying corporate taxes had been cut enough in recent years and that it was time to invest more in education.

Support for Cooper's stance cut across all demographics in the poll. Even more than three in five of Republicans questioned and a majority of those who identify themselves as conservative ranked funding schools ahead of cutting taxes in the budget debate.

To get around the budget veto, lawmakers passed a so-called "mini budget" in November that provided average 3.9 percent raises to teachers over two years – it would jump to 4.4 if Democrats helped override the budget veto – and 4 percent for other school personnel. But Cooper vetoed that measure as well, calling the raises "paltry." He called for raising teacher salaries by an average of 9.1 percent over two years in his budget proposal.

Seventy percent of those polled backed 9 percent raises for teachers, compared with 21 percent who favored 4 percent raises.

As with the school funding versus tax cuts question, support for the larger raises crossed all age, income, race and gender lines. Again, even Republicans and self-identified conservatives backed the 9 percent raises by margins of at least 64 percent, with no more than 29 percent in favor of the 4 percent plan.

"[I]t’s obvious that these one-sided internet poll questions were written to produce a pre-determined response," Pat Ryan, a spokesman for Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger, said in an email. "They provide the online respondents no context, while poll after poll has shown that voters change their opinions on these subjects when given full information."

People likely would have responded differently, Ryan said, if they were told a 9 percent raise could result in a budget deficit or that teachers have seen their salaries jump in recent years as lawmakers have plowed more money into education.

SurveyUSA is a nationally known opinion research company that has conducted business for decades.

Another battle line in the budget impasse involves Medicaid expansion. Cooper wants the state to offer government-funded health coverage to tens of thousands of people, as allowed under the Affordable Care Act, saying it would bring millions of dollars in federal support to the state, help struggling rural hospitals and create thousands of health care jobs. Republican legislative leaders have refused to consider expansion, arguing that the state will eventually have to pick up the tab for those new Medicaid enrollees, which would strain future budgets.

Fifty-seven percent of those polled said Medicaid should be expanded in North Carolina, compared with 30 percent who say the program's enrollment guidelines should remain as is and 12 percent who weren't sure.

Republicans back the legislative leadership on this issue, with 52 percent saying Medicaid shouldn't expand and only 36 percent calling for expansion. Other demographic groups where a majority didn't favor Medicaid expansion include people age 65 or older (45 percent), people who voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election (36 percent), people who describe themselves as upper-class (47 percent), evangelicals (45 percent) and conservatives (39 percent).

Poll respondents who said they're poor or called themselves working class backed Medicaid expansion by margins as high as 5-1. Urban residents were more supportive than rural ones (67 to 57 percent), and almost three-fourths of black respondents want Medicaid to cover more people, while only slight majorities of other racial groups back the move.

"It’s clear that Gov. Cooper is fighting for the things that matter to hard-working families across North Carolina: good jobs, higher teacher pay and access to affordable health care," Cooper spokeswoman Dory MacMillan said in a statement. "Legislative leaders should stop trying to override the budget veto and start negotiating with the governor to get the job done."

WRAL Capitol Bureau chief Laura Leslie contributed to this report.