Charlotte Observer

Charlotte Observer: The toll on Gov. Pat’s approval numbers?

It’s getting harder to keep track of all the reasons North Carolinians are displeased with Pat McCrory. Right now, it’s Duke Energy, his former employer, and the governor’s waffling on leaking coal ash ponds. There’s also teacher pay and the Medicaid expansion rejection and cutting unemployment benefits and a broken abortion promise and delivering cookies and “thanks for nothing” and, of course, the comedy that is the Department of Health and Human Services.

So how bad are the polling numbers looking right now for Gov. McCrisis? Not that bad, really. An American Insights survey of 611 registered N.C. voters showed McCrory enjoying a slightly positive approval rating – 43 percent who approve of the job he’s doing to 40 percent who don’t. (An Elon poll released this week had McCrory’s approval at 36 percent, with 43 percent disapproving, but even that is an almost three percent improvement for the governor since November.)

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