Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By John Hood

 

Being a naturally hopeful person with much to be thankful for, I try to talk to a wide variety of people before speculating about public opinion. 

Here’s what my recent conversations suggest. At the moment, some of us are in desperate trouble. Others feel on top of the world. Most are somewhere in between — but may well lurch toward either pole tomorrow. We must all make our own journeys through life, at our own pace, in our own time.

Still, I think it’s fair to say that, on balance, North Carolinians are entering the new year with guarded optimism. That’s understandable. Despite our many challenges, North Carolinians live in a beautiful state that’s generally well-governed and boasts one of the strongest economies in the country. Having just surpassed 11 million residents, North Carolina is currently on track to displace Georgia by the end of the decade to become America’s eighth-most-populous state. 

Two recent polls confirm my anecdotal evidence. High Point University surveyed a thousand North Carolinians in late November, including 856 registered voters. While 47% of respondents say they and their families are financially worse off than they were a year ago, just 24% expect the same thing to happen in 2025.

On political matters, North Carolinians are divided but, to my eyes, not bitterly so. The election of Donald Trump has made 45% happy and 45% unhappy. The remaining 10% haven’t decided yet. 

North Carolina voters have a net positive view of new Gov. Josh Stein (+26 points), the state legislature (+10), and, perhaps surprisingly, Kamala Harris (+6). They offer mixed feelings about Trump (-3, within the margin of sampling error) and unfavorable views of Joe Biden (-15), J.D. Vance (-7), the U.S. Supreme Court (-9), and Congress (-23)

The latest Carolina Journal Poll painted a similar portrait of public sentiment at the end of a turbulent year. Again, Josh Stein’s favorable rating (53%) exceeds his unfavorable rating (25%), while voters have mixed feelings about Trump (+1, within the margin of error). 

Asked to pick their two priorities for the North Carolina General Assembly to tackle in 2025, respondents collectively place cutting taxes (32%), improving infrastructure (27%), increasing education spending (25%), and increasing government transparency (20%) at the top of the list. 

Are these goals compatible? In theory, yes, and voters seem to want lawmakers to strike a prudent balance. Nearly 90% say it is “important” that “a new Democratic governor and a

Republican-led General Assembly try to reach compromise on important issues.” 

I know this sounds incongruous in an era of smashmouth politics. Keep in mind, however, that the vast majority of North Carolinians pay little attention to such content, or to politics at all when there’s no election looming. Those who do — very online politicos and followers — are prone to precisely the sort of cognitive bias I admitted at the beginning of this column. 

I don’t believe we are fated to float downstream, oblivious and powerless. We can seek out alternative views and diversify our connections to the wider world. I resolve to do more of it in 2025.

John Hood is a John Locke Foundation board member.