ELON -- More than eight out of 10 registered voters in North Carolina can identify Mike Pence at U.S. vice president and Roy Cooper as N.C. governor, with the state's two U.S. senators and local sheriffs among the more identifiable politicians around the state, according to the latest Elon University Poll.  But at the other end of the spectrum, only one in nine know that state Sen. Phil Berger is the leader of the N.C. Senate and only one in 11 can identify Tim Moore as speaker of the N.C. House, demonstrating a large gap between awareness of federal political leaders and of many of those making the decisions at the state level, the Elon Poll found.

The results were part of a broad survey seeking to assess the level of political knowledge in North Carolina, with registered voters asked to identify a list of elected leaders who represent them in Raleigh and Washington, D.C. Members of Congress were more identifiable than those who represent N.C. citizens in the state’s General Assembly. When asked which party controls the majority of the seats in the General Assembly, 86 percent were able to correctly state the Republican Party, though voters were less likely to be able to correctly estimate what percentage of state legislators are women or are white.

“Being able to identify the names of our local officials is a very basic, yet essential step for an individual to be civically engaged,” said Jason Husser, director of the Elon University Poll and assistant professor of political science. “Perhaps a sign of the times, most North Carolina voters are much better informed about their leaders in Washington than their leaders in Raleigh. Importantly, the biggest state policy changes that could result from this year’s election cycle depend on the number of General Assembly seats held by one party or the other. While reassuring that most voters know which party controls the two chambers of the General Assembly, the vast majority are unable to identify the names of their local state legislators and the state’s most important legislative leaders.”

Asked about the controversial redistricting process through which congressional districts are mapped, about half of registered voters could say who draws the district lines, but only about one in four could say when redistricting occurs. Nearly half — 47 percent — said the way congressional lines are drawn is “not fair at all,” while 27 percent said they either hadn't thought about it or didn't know. 

The live-caller, dual-frame (landline and cell phone) survey of 625 registered voters in North Carolina was conducted Feb. 12-15, 2018. Survey results in this news release have a margin of error +/-3.9 percent.