Trump job approval ticks up in North Carolina

President Trump’s approval rating stands at 44 percent in North Carolina, up 4 points in the past year, a new High Point University poll finds.

Trump’s disapproval rating in the survey — conducted April 16 to May 1 — was 46 percent. In April 2019, 52 percent of respondents in the state disapproved of the job the president was doing.

When asked about the direction of the country, 57 percent said that it is going in the wrong direction, close to the 58 percent who said so a year ago.

The new poll comes as Trump has tried to dispel criticism over his administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. Last month, the president outlined a set of guidelines for states to follow when looking to reopen their economies. On Tuesday, the White House signaled that it was in the beginning stages of phasing out its coronavirus task force, with Trump reiterating that it was time to reopen the country, which has largely been shuttered due to the pandemic since March.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) saw a more substantial jump in his approval rating from a year ago, jumping nearly 20 points, to 60 percent, in the new poll. Twenty percent of North Carolina residents surveyed now say they disapprove of the job Cooper is doing. 

During the pandemic, many governors have enjoyed bumps in their approval ratings, with their ratings often better than Trump’s.

North Carolina is set to be a key battleground state in the presidential election. Trump beat Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton by a 50 to 46 percent margin in 2016.

The poll surveyed 404 adult North Carolina residents. It has a margin of error of 4.9 percentage points.