Across party lines, North Carolinians stand united against partisan gerrymandering and believe that district maps should be drawn neutrally, according to a newly conducted poll.
The results come from a poll commissioned by voting rights advocacy group Common Cause North Carolina and conducted by the right-leaning polling firm Opinion Diagnostics in early September. The poll surveyed 671 North Carolina voters, with 30.5% being Democrats, 30.4% being Republicans, and 39.1% being unaffiliated or third-party voters.
The results found that the majority of voters (84%), regardless of party, believe partisan gerrymandering is never okay.
By party, 87% of Democrats said they were opposed to partisan gerrymandering, while 78% of Republicans were also against it. When asked if partisan gerrymandering should be legal or not, the majority of voters (76%) responded that it should not be legal.
This shows higher disapproval from both parties compared to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released a month prior. The six-day survey of 4,446 U.S. adults showed 55% of respondents believe that the ongoing partisan redistricting being done by Texas and California is bad for democracy. Breaking the results up by party, the poll showed 71% of Democrats and 46% of Republicans against the redistricting.
The higher disapproval rating coming from North Carolinians could be attributed to North Carolina’s history of gerrymandering, claims Bob Phillips, the executive director of Common Cause NC.
Coming on the heels of the polling commissioned by Common Cause North Carolina were allegations that North Carolina’s Senate Leader Phil Berger was considering redrawing North Carolina’s Congressional maps in exchange for an endorsement for Trump. Berger is facing a competitive primary as he runs for reelection in 2026, facing off against Rockingham sheriff Sam Page. However, Berger quickly took to social media to deny the allegations, saying he has not asked Trump for an endorsement. Though he denied speaking to Trump, he remained open to the idea of redrawing maps to combat the redistricting happening in Democratic states.
California and Texas have been the center of a redistricting battle as Trump has called on Texas and other red states to redraw their maps to put more Republican seats.
“Texas never lets us down. Florida, Indiana, and others are looking to do the same thing,” Trump wrote in an August post on Truth Social. “More seats equals less Crime, a great Economy, and a STRONG SECOND AMENDMENT”.
In the post, Trump calls on red states to redraw their maps, stop mail-in voting, and go to paper ballots, citing reliability and fraud concerns for the latter two requests.
With such a battle taking place across the country, there are concerns that the fight may come to North Carolina, with Berger saying he is not against it, and even House Speaker Destin Hall entertaining the idea. However, Democratic Governor Josh Stein calls the idea “ridiculous.”
“We cannot get into this maximalist political power worldview, because it will destroy this country. It will destroy the politics of this country,” Stein said in an interview where he was asked about Berger’s comment.
“We have to be able to recognize sometimes you win an election, sometimes you lose an election.” Stein continued, “When you lose, you gather your forces. You work harder, you try to convince the voters the next time. When you win, you work your tail off to deliver on the promises that you made to people so they’ll reelect you. That’s how it’s supposed to work.”
