Poll Shows North Carolina Voters Support A $10 Minimum Wage And Equal Rights For Same-Sex Couples

Public Policy Polling conducted a survey of 740 registered voters in North Carolina between April 3rd and 6th (and the poll had a margin of error of 3.6 points). While North Carolina is a pretty reliable red state, it is more liberal than the Republicans that run the state.

While raising the minimum wage to $10 an hour is anathema to Republicans, the voters in North Carolina like the idea -- and they support it by a 17 point margin (54% to 37%). This is the same thing we have seen in other red states. It would be a good idea for Democrats to make this a campaign issue in North Carolina this year.

And that states voters would also like to see same-sex couples get the same rights that are given to opposite-sex couples through marriage. While the voters actually said no to same-sex marriage by 40% to 53%, it turns out this is not a rejection of giving equal rights to same-sex couples. It is just the use of the word "marriage" that seems to upset people (just like in other red states). If you call it a civil union (but give it the same rights of an opposite-sex marriage), then a clear majority of 60% of North Carolina voters would approve it.

I honestly don't know why Southerners want to play this semantic game, but they do. A civil union with the rights given a heterosexual marriage would, in effect, be a same-sex marriage. It makes me wonder -- could this whole issue be resolved if the federal government stopped using the word "marriage", and just granted the same rights to civil unions between both same-sex and opposite-sex couples (i.e., change the word "marriage" to "civil union" on all federal forms)? Could it be that easy?

The poll also questioned Republicans on their 2016 presidential preferences, and all voters on whether they preferred Hillary Clinton or one of the leading Republicans. Those charts are below. As with most other states, there is no clear favorite for the GOP nomination. The really interesting part though is the GOP match-ups with Hillary Clinton. Hillary leads all of them (although half are within the margin of error of the poll). This means that unless something changes, Hillary would have a very good chance of winning North Carolina (which went for the Republican candidate in 2012).