What an NC poll says about the Declaration of Independence
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Only 7% of respondents say the Declaration’s ideals have been fully achieved in America.
- A Catawba College survey found 84% of North Carolinians value the Declaration.
- Survey found 43% said the four key Declaration quotes were equally important.
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How important is the Declaration of Independence to NC residents?
A majority of North Carolinians believe the document and its ideals matter, according to a new survey from Catawba College and YouGov, a global research analytics group.
Of 1,000 respondents, 56% said the declaration’s principles were “extremely important,” and 28% said the values were “very important” today — a total of 84%, according to the survey. Those results reflect “weighting” of respondents, meaning that certain demographics received slightly more weight to better represent the state population.
With the Fourth of July rapidly approaching, an overwhelming majority of Democrats, around 80%, independents, 86%, and Republicans, 98% surveyed agreed that it is important to celebrate the declaration.
Michael Bitzer, professor of politics and history at Catawba College and director of the Center for North Carolina Politics & Public Service, which commissioned the survey, said the “enduring relevance” of the declaration’s core principals is also widely agreed upon. Across partisan groups, 80% of Democrats, 85% of independents and 88% of Republicans share that view.
Respondents were given four “key quotes” from the document, and 43% of them said the points were all equally important, according to the survey. Another 18% said the notion that “all people are created equal” was most important, 17% said “the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” was most important, 10% said the right to change a government that fails its people was most important and 7% chose the phrase “government derives its power from the consent of the governed” as the most important.
When it comes to modern times, 7% of North Carolinians surveyed “believe the Declaration reflects ideals the nation has fully achieved, suggesting that most respondents view the document as both a statement of principle and an ongoing challenge for the country,” according to the survey. Based on party affiliation, 31% of Democrats believe the nation has not fully achieved those values, while only 14% of Republicans answered that way.
Bitzer said that while “there’s agreement on the Declaration’s principles, it does not necessarily translate into agreement about the nation’s progress toward achieving them.”
“What stands out is that North Carolinians largely agree on the ideals themselves,” Bitzer said. “That distinction helps explain both the enduring power of the Declaration and the continuing debates over what it means in modern America.”
Latest podcast episode
On Tuesday’s episode of The News & Observer’s Under the Dome politics podcast, host and Capitol bureau chief Dawn Vaughan is joined by democracy reporter Kyle Ingram and higher education reporter Jane Winik Sartwell. The trio talk recent veto overrides that ban DEI programs in education, which passed because two House lawmakers — who lost their primaries — were absent. They also discuss the state budget bill, which should move toward votes this week, as well as their Headliners of the Week.
Listen to the latest episode here or wherever you get your podcasts.
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