THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 26, 1995 TAG: 9502260033
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY MASON PETERS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 53 lines
Seventy-two percent of North Carolina voters now favor a state lottery but strongly oppose legalizing casino gambling, a new survey shows.
The seven-out-of-ten lottery majority is up from 55 percent in April 1993, according to a Mason-Dixon Media Research poll released Saturday. In the Albemarle area, 76 percent want a lottery.
Only 25 percent of 809 registered voters who were polled oppose the lottery, a low figure only equaled in February 1991.
``The amount of lottery support is returning to the high levels enjoyed four years ago when the recession hit,'' said Del Ali, vice president of Mason-Dixon Research, which prepared the poll for The Virginian-Pilot.
Since 1987, more than half of those questioned by Mason-Dixon have favored a state lottery, Ali said, but the proposal has had rough sledding in the General Assembly. Efforts to get legislators to approve at least a statewide referendum on the lottery have consistently failed.
Millions of North Carolina dollars travel to Virginia every year to buy lottery tickets in hundreds of Old Dominion convenience stores, many only a few steps across the state line.
Almost an equal number of men and women - an average of 72 percent - of all races and political inclinations favor the lottery, said Ali.
In other polling questions, legislators, who still have a long way to go in the present session, got only a 26 percent ``excellent'' to ``good'' rating, while 46 percent of those polled said the General Assembly was ``only fair,'' and 6 percent rated it ``poor.''
In other positions, the poll showed:
Gov. James B. Hunt Jr.'s plan to cut personal and business taxes by $483 million was favored by a 49-36 margin.
A constitutional amendment to give the governor a veto was favored 65-35.
The governor's ``Smart Start'' childhood education program has a 49-36 support rating.
By 63 percent to 26 percent, those polled opposed a plan to let the governor appoint the Superintendent of Public Instruction.
The Mason-Dixon poll was conducted between Feb. 19 and Feb. 21. Of the 809 registered voters interviewed, women numbered 405 and men 404. There were 460 whites and 161 blacks; 460 were Democrats; 282 Republicans and 67 Independents.
The margin for error, Ali said, is 3.5 percentage points, which means there would be a 95 percent probability of accuracy if the entire population were sampled. by CNB