Hagan and Burr's supporters on health care

Yesterday Kay Hagan and Richard Burr gave their divergent opinions on health care to the NC Agribusiness Council.

Hagan and Burr may be representing the same state but their supporters, not surprisingly, are quite divergent and they're both taking the positions they need to on this hot button issue to keep from antagonizing their base.

On our most recent poll 78% of respondents who expressed approval of Hagan's job performance said that they supported Barack Obama's agenda on health care. At the same time 82% of respondents who said they like the job Burr is doing said they opposed the President's plans. So there is not a lot of ambiguity about where the core supporters of either Senator stand. If either strays from the party line they risk quite a bit of unhappiness from the voters most responsible for putting them in office.

Another good statistic on Burr and Hagan that serves to show how polarized the state's electorate is right now: only 8% of North Carolinians approve of the job that both of their Senators are doing.