Most North Carolina residents express confidence in integrity and accuracy of 2024 election in new poll

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — A new poll finds most North Carolina voters are confident their vote will be accurately counted this year and in the integrity of the state’s election, but the poll also reveals partisan divides on those issues.

The poll, conducted by Catawba College and YouGov, found that 71% of voters are either very or somewhat confident in the safety, security and integrity of the election in North Carolina. Additionally, about 75% of voters expressed confidence in their vote being counted accurately this year.

While 83% of Democrats and 69% of independents expressed confidence about election integrity in the state, only 63% of Republicans did. About one-third of Republicans said they are not confident.

“It is certainly a partisan dynamic at play within this level of confidence about election integrity,” said Michael Bitzer, a professor at Catawba College and one of the leaders of the Commission on the Future of NC Elections. “They tend to have a lack of confidence in basic things like how votes get counted and accuracy in those vote counts. We have seen a very distinctive partisan divide.”

The commission, which is sponsored by the Carter Center, has held events across the state seeking to educate voters about the election process in North Carolina and to address “election myths”.

“I think administrators both at the local and state level have an uphill battle against some of these conspiracies, some of this disinformation,” Bitzer said.

The poll of 1,000 North Carolinians was conducted from Aug. 7-20. It also found people’s confidence drops as you ask them about the integrity of the election in other states.

“I think there is something to be said about people trusting their friends and neighbors, but not those folks in those other states. I think that is a national dynamic we are seeing play out,” Bitzer said.

The poll was released as the first ballots of the 2024 general election began to be mailed out to voters who requested them on Friday.

In the survey, 57% of voters said they were either very or somewhat confident that voting by mail is a secure way to cast a ballot. Meanwhile, 37% said they were not too confident or not confident in that at all. Bitzer noted that 62% of Republicans lack confidence in mail-in voting being secure.

Over the objection of Democrats, Republicans in the General Assembly voted to move up the deadline for mail-in ballots to Election Day, eliminating a three-day grace period that had been in place. Under the state’s voter ID law, people who vote by mail also must include a copy of their ID.

The poll also found that 84% of North Carolinians think it’s important for losing candidates to publicly accept winning candidates as legitimate winners.

“When voters hear from their elites, particularly their presidential candidate, calling into question the processes without real foundation of information or facts, that oftentimes skews them to see things through his lenses,” Bitzer said.

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