The Democratic base is responding well to the new, feistier Bev Perdue who's shown a willingness to fight Republicans and veto their bills over the last few months. As a result her approval number this month matches a 2 year high. 35% of North Carolinians say they like the job she's doing, matching her numbers from December of 2010 and September of 2010 and representing her highest level of support since posting a 41% approval rating in April of 2009. 49% of voters disapprove of Perdue's performance.
The main reason Perdue's numbers are up is that she's had a 10 point net improvement with Democrats over the last month. In March she was at a +20 spread with them (50/30) and now she's at a +30 spread (56/26). Her numbers are still poor overall because of her limited support from independents (25/57) and from Republicans (13/73). Still the only way she's likely to get her numbers back where she wants them is slow, methodical progress and it has to start somewhere.
Perdue is also in a slightly better position for reelection against Pat McCrory this month, although she still trails by double digits. Last month McCrory led her by 14 points at 50-36 and now that advantage is down to 11 at 49-38. McCrory continues to do well not just because of Perdue's unpopularity but also because he's generally viewed positively by voters in the state, with 33% holding a favorable opinion of him to 27% with an unfavorable one.
Perdue still has a long and arduous journey ahead but over the last month at least she's taken a step forward. Her problem over the last two years is that pretty much every time she's taken a step forward she's soon taken another step back- we'll see if she can reverse that trend in the weeks ahead.
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