It will be interesting to see what impact Bev Perdue's executive order allowing furloughs for teachers and state employees has on her approval rating.
She has already seen a pretty significant drop in her approval from our poll in mid-March, before she announced her budget, to the one we did in mid-April. She went from a +9 spread at 44/35 to just a +1 at 41/40.
That drop did not come among Republicans, but with her political base. With Democrats her numbers dropped from 66/17 to 61/22 and the drop was particularly large among voters describing themselves as liberals who went from 70/14 approval to 63/22.
Today's move is likely to further antagonize these groups that were so key to her Gubernatorial bid, particularly in the primary, and who were already dropping some in their support of the Governor.
Of course the reality is that being Governor right now is inevitably going to involve some tough decisions, and it would be virtually impossible for her to both keep the state solvent and all of her allies happy. But unless Republicans and independents start to show a higher level of approval for her this move could push her approval rating into negative territory next month.
I am an NC teacher and I'd like to know whether the governor plans to take 0.5% of my May paycheck only, or is this to be retroactive to the beginning of the 09 fiscal year? Taking 0.5% of an entire year's salary from one month's paycheck is going to create significant financial issues for many families.
ReplyDeleteLuv2teach