Meredith Poll Gauges Voter Response to 2024 Elections, Policy Proposals

A Meredith Poll conducted after the November 5 elections gauged North Carolina voters’ response to the election results and their opinions on policy proposals from the incoming administration.

In a survey that was in the field from November 24-30, 2024, 60% of North Carolinians reported they were satisfied with the outcomes, despite how close many elections in North Carolina were, including the presidential election, Council of State races, and the North Carolina Supreme Court contest.

Meredith Poll Director David McLennan believes the results show that many voters are simply glad the election has ended and that both major parties achieved wins in 2024.

“Some might be surprised that so many North Carolinians were satisfied with the outcome of the November 5 elections, however, I feel that people are generally glad the campaigns are over,” McLennan said. “Yes, Democrats are dissatisfied with the presidential election results, but should be pleased that they hold so many Council of State offices after the election. Likewise, Republicans are pleased with the presidential election results, but should be less so with other state races. For a majority of voters who don’t live and breathe politics, they are ready to move on.”

There were major partisan differences in satisfaction levels, with almost 95 percent of Republicans being satisfied with the results and over 71 percent of Democrats being dissatisfied. A slight majority of unaffiliated voters–50 percent–were satisfied with the election outcomes, with 43.3 percent being dissatisfied.

Sources for Election News
Another topic covered was news sources voters turned to for political information. The major takeaway is that social media has eclipsed every other type of information source except for cable news as the primary place people go for their political information. While 38 percent of the respondents identified cable news networks as the primary source of information about the election, 33 percent identified social media sites as their primary source. 

Voters also shared how much they trusted these sources, with the poll finding that all of the sources, except social media, were trusted by a majority of respondents.

“It is no surprise that social media has become so prominent in today’s election information ecology,” said McLennan. “Americans are more and more addicted to social media for all types of information and political news is only one type. What is most interesting is that even the heaviest consumers of social media don’t trust the information they received from the various sites. One thing is certain–as our results indicate–social media is now mainstream media for most citizens.”

Public Opinion on Policy Proposals
The poll also asked voters about their opinions on policy proposals related to immigration, trade policies including tariffs, and higher education.

For these results and more details, view the full report.

Methodology
The Meredith Poll conducted a survey of North Carolina registered voters. The online sample – from Qualtrics – used a quota based on the U.S. Census estimates of North Carolina and the North Carolina Board of Elections report on registered voters in North Carolina. After the survey was completed, we weighted the survey for gender, party affiliation, geographic location, race and ethnicity, and education so that our sample most closely resembles North Carolina. The sample had 800 respondents, giving us a confidence interval of +/- 3.5%. The survey was in the field November 24-30, 2024.