NC voters optimistic Obama will be an improvement

Who will make a better President?

Barack Obama 56
George W. Bush 36

Barack Obama may have only won North Carolina by the smallest of margins in last month's Presidential election but when it comes to who the state's voters think will do the stronger job between him and the current President, it's no contest. North Carolinians think Obama will be better than George W. Bush by a wide margin.

What's particularly striking about this is how consistent the sense that Obama will be better is across demographic lines, even with groups that weren't particularly supportive of him in the election. For instance a majority of senior citizens and a plurality of white voters think Obama will be better than Bush even though each group supported John McCain by a pretty good margin.

Voters across all age, region, race, and gender groups that PPP tracks believe that Obama will prove to be a better President, as do almost 20% of Republicans and, by a 54-33 margin, independent voters.

It's not hard to track this optimism for Obama, once again, back to the economy. 65% of voters who say it's their top priority think he'll be an improvement compared to just 26% who think Bush will prove to have been the better President. It will be interesting to see how much breathing room the voters give Obama before they start expecting to see tangible results from his policies.

Full results here.