Elon University’s Elon Poll conducted a mid-September survey of 701 registered voters asking a long list of questions on perceptions about government, individual politicians, recently-passed legislation and the Affordable Care Act.

The poll, which was released in two chunks over two days, included several infographics that are be used in this post.

The first part of the poll, released September 19, focused on approval ratings for state and federal officials and offered a good early look at the statewide name recognition for potential candidates in the upcoming GOP primary for the 2014 U.S. Senate race.

The second part broke down several policy decisions made during the recent session of the General Assembly and also included a survey on perceptions about the Affordable Care Act on the eve of the opening of the federal exchange in the state.

Here are the main links for the polls:

September 20 — In North Carolina, mixed approval for new state laws

Full News Release

Executive Summary, Methodology and Crosstabs

Downloadable Graphics

September 19 — Obama, McCrory approval numbers drop in N.C.

Full News Release

Executive Summary, Methodology and Crosstabs

Downloadable Graphics

Methodology for the survey was a live caller poll using both landlines and cell phones.

The Big Drop

One initial headline out of the first part of the poll was the governor’s approval rating drop from 46.1 percent in April to 36.1 percent in the September survey. He fell the farthest in a group including the president, congress, Sens. Kay Hagan and Richard Burr and the General Assembly.

One way of reading the numbers was to see them as result of policy choices and recent hiring controversies, but there are also clear indications that the state of the economy has a lot to do with the drop as well.

Certainly, late summer did not find Pat McCrory at his best. With legislature out of town, protests and pressure focused more on the governor. In some cases, McCory’s responses fueled the stories. He offered cookies but not dialogue to women outside the governor’s mansion protesting his support for a bill imposing unprecedented restrictions on abortion providers. He bashed the press and told business leaders reporters weren’t capable of understanding his economic policies. Eventually, he lamented transparency itself as though he had not run on the idea of opening up government and had not patted himself on the back for it in a press conference earlier this year.

At the same time, his administration was showing signs that all the new political hires the legislature rewarded him with through changes to the state personnel system are proving to be a mixed blessing. Some day we may find out where decisions on some of the more outlandish hires came from, but taken as a whole, the administration’s staffing scandals are driving suspicions that many of the people now running things, including perhaps the governor himself, are out of their league.

McCrory can take some comfort in knowing that the image of the president and most of the rest of the political leaders in the state are tarnished as well. And the biggest statistic in the poll — the dismal right direction/wrong direction number — is also a reminder that the state of the economy is still the biggest drag on the public’s perception of its elected officials. Any improvement in the state’s jobs outlook will do more for McCrory’s approval ratings than all the press bashing he can manage.

The breakdown on Governor McCrory and President Obama’s approval numbers from the poll:

Fifty-one percent of poll respondents said they disapprove of the way Obama is handling his job as president, and the numbers break along party lines as 79 percent of Democrats approve of the president compared to just 6 percent of Republicans. Race also factored into support. Eighty-three percent of African-American respondents approve of Obama’s performance compared to 26 percent of whites do. A much higher number of whites (63 percent) said they disapprove of Obama, whereas just 8 percent of blacks disapprove. Forty-six percent expressed disapproval of North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory’s performance, and as with the president, the governor’s numbers also hinge on party affiliation. Fifty-eight percent of Republicans approve of McCrory’s job performance compared to 18 percent of Democrats. Nearly twice as many whites (42 percent) approve of McCrory as do African-Americans (22 percent). More men (41 percent) indicate support for the governor than do women (32 percent).

Beyond the confirmation that the governor has a problem, the bigger result of the poll was that the state as a whole has a problem. For a variety of reasons, but most of them driven by the still-awful jobs outlook, 59 percent of North Carolinians surveyed said the state is heading in the wrong direction. In a sign that should worry the folks currently in power in Raleigh as well as GOP incumbents throughout the state, half of the people responding blamed GOP policies.

Among the other results from part one:

• Seventy percent believe the United States is on the “wrong track” and 59 percent say the same for North Carolina itself;

• And just over a quarter of respondents (26 percent) expect the economy to get better over the next year. Twenty-nine percent believe it will get worse and 42 percent say they expect it to remain about the same.

• 14 percent of respondents approved of the way Congress was performing in Washington, D.C, while 75 percent disapprove of the way the legislative body is doing its job.

• Democrats (75 percent) and independents (45 percent) showed the largest levels of support for Moral Monday protests. Only one in four Republicans had a favorable view.

• Women (52 percent) also supported the protests more than men (44 percent). By race, African-Americans (69 percent) had a favorable view of Moral Mondays compared to their white counterparts (43 percent).

And for those of you have Thom Tillis or Phil Berger on your Fantasy Politics team here are the results for the name recognition portion of the survey.

Thirty-one percent of respondents said they recognize the name Thom Tillis, the Speaker of the House of the North Carolina House of Representatives. Sixty-seven percent of respondents did not. And of those who do recognize his name, 22 percent hold a favorable opinion of him, while 35 percent said they view him unfavorably. Forty-three percent said they didn’t know how they felt. Republican Phil Berger, the president pro tem of the State Senate, carries slightly more name recognition with 33 percent of respondents saying they recognize Berger’s name. Of those who do, 21 percent view him favorably; approximately 30 percent have an unfavorable opinion of Berger, and nearly half of respondents who recognize his name don’t know how they feel about Berger.

In surveying the policy issues the poll sought to break out some specific policies from the passed session. One important breakout contrasted the difference in public perceptions of two aspects of the recently passed elections omnibus that merged Voter ID legislation with numerous other changes including the end of same-day registrations, preregistration for 17-year olds and a reduction in the number of days for early voting.

The results show why those opposed to the legislation continue to point out that it is far more than a Voter ID bill.

This on the elections law from Elon’s release shows that the perception is still strong that it is a Voter ID bill:

Seventy percent of North Carolinians support that law, with Republicans (94 percent) and independents (74 percent) showing the strongest levels of agreement. Four out of five white respondents also said they approve of the photo identification requirement. Fifty-four percent of Democrats opposed the measure, as do 55 percent of African-Americans. “Support for a voter ID law has been broad and deep, consistently ranging in the 70 percent or higher across multiple surveys,” Fernandez said. “But this was the first time that the Elon Poll found a majority of Democrats and a majority of African Americans opposing voter identification requirements.” The reduction in the amount of time given to vote early, however, was not received as well. Fifty-one percent of respondents disapprove of the reduction, compared to 38 percent who support it. Men and women are nearly equal in their levels of disagreement, and the strongest disapproval is from African-Americans, of whom 77 percent signaled their opposition. Forty-three percent of whites supported the reduction; 14 percent said they didn’t know how they felt.

And, naturally, the polls reminds us that North Carolinians may love their guns but would prefer you check them at the door when entering a saloon.

Other results from Part Two include:

• Just over half of respondents agreed with the statement that there should be more legal restrictions on handguns in society, a figure that was largely supported by Democrats (81 percent), women (64 percent) and African-Americans (81 percent).

• Four out of five registered voters in North Carolina also believe that teachers are paid too little, compared to just 2 percent who feel they receive too much and 12 percent who described teacher pay as “about right.”

• Democrats (66 percent) and independents (52 percent) offered the strongest support for tenure, while 50 percent of Republicans were against it.

• Support for more teacher pay remained strong regardless of party identification, gender, race or age, though belief that teacher pay was too low was strongest among young respondents and began to dip among older populations. Nine out of 10 African Americans said pay was “too little” for teachers compared to 78 percent of whites.