THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 16, 1996 TAG: 9602160498
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: By MASON PETERS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
For five years, Gov. James B. Hunt Jr.'s popularity with North Carolina voters has been waning, but the silver-haired governor still has enough Democratic clout to win a fourth term in November, a Mason-Dixon poll reported Thursday.
``There are some signs of chinks in Hunt's armor,'' said Brad Coker, director of Mason-Dixon Media Research Inc., which conducted the survey of 844 registered voters this month.
The Mason-Dixon figures show that 42 percent of voters queried said they are ``currently inclined'' to re-elect the 58-year-old governor, Coker said, reflecting a drop from 48 percent a year ago.
And 27 percent of those surveyed said they have an unfavorable opinion of Hunt, up from 19 percent a year ago, according to the poll.
Hunt's Republican opponent will probably be Charlotte Mayor Richard Vinroot, who has a 33 percent to 9 percent lead over Robin Hayes as the favorite in the Republican gubernatorial primary.
Hayes, a Charlotte textile executive, is mounting a serious race against Vinroot and has plenty of old family and GOP money behind him. Robert Rogers and Thomas Manning are longshot Republicans in the primary.
The whys and wherefores of Hunt's slow but steady popularity slide make the kind of gossip-tinder that keeps North Carolina political hot-stove speculation blazing brightly.
In 1991, Hunt had a favorable name recognition of 58 percent statewide, and an unfavorable rating of 20 percent, Coker's poll showed.
Hunt is no stranger to a political popularity that rises and falls like a full-moon tide in Nags Head.
Coker was quick to point out that Hunt's figures in the current Mason-Dixon poll ``are relatively similar to those that Hunt held at the time he was re-elected governor in 1992.''
That was a very good year for Hunt.
It took the governor eight years to get over the fearful drubbing he took from Jesse Helms in the 1984 U.S. Senate race. Finally, Hunt decided to seek a third term in the 1992 governor's race, and went on to a triumph that made everybody forget 1984.
Today, with a $4.5 million campaign war chest, Hunt's handlers are a lot more comfortable with the current political portents.
``Hunt continues to lead Vinroot in a head-to-head race, but his base support has dipped just below the 50 percent threshold,'' Coker said Thursday.
``Statewide, Hunt now leads Vinroot 47 percent to 31 percent, down from the 53 percent to 26 percent margin he enjoyed this time last year,'' he added.
Hunt's support in Northeastern North Carolina remains high, with 51 percent of the voters saying the governor's performance is ``good'' or ``excellent.''
The Raleigh-Durham area gave Hunt a higher ``good-excellent'' rating - 56 percent. Even Charlotte - Vinroot's home town - felt the governor deserved a 52 percent good-or-excellent score.
Fifty-six percent of the women questioned thought Hunt was doing a fine job, and 44 percent said he should be re-elected. Fifty percent of the men felt Hunt was doing well, and 40 percent said they would vote to re-elect him.
Statewide only 12 percent of those interviewed thought Hunt was a ``poor'' governor.
Sixty-nine percent of the black voters questioned gave Hunt the highest performance marks, compared with 49 percent of the whites interviewed.
Thirty-nine percent of the Republicans queried thought the governor was doing OK, and 17 percent said they would vote to re-elect him.
Coker said the poll was conducted under a statistical procedure that assured only a 3.4 percent likelihood of error.
KEYWORDS: POLL by CNB