news-record.com

RALEIGH (AP) - North Carolina residents believe Democrats will do a better job handling most major issues facing the country - from the economy to energy to education - and overwhelmingly say the nation is off track, according to an Elon University poll released Friday.

The poll identified only two issues that were close enough to be considered tossups. On taxes, Democrats were the choice of 46.5 percent of respondents compared with 43.4 percent that selected Republicans. On the Iraq war, the survey found that 46.5 percent said Republicans were better suited compared with 45.3 percent that preferred Democrats.

Eight other issues favored the Democrats by comfortable margins.

"A year ago, that was unimaginable," said Elon poll director Hunter Bacot.

A majority of those surveyed named the economy as the top issue, with 63 percent of respondents picking the economy compared with just 47 percent of respondents a month ago, 35 percent in April and 29 percent in February. About 47 percent of voters said Democrats would do a better job handling the economy while 39 percent favored Republicans.

The next closest issue - elementary and secondary education - lags far behind, with 5 percent of respondents calling it the most important.

The poll surveyed 797 North Carolina residents Monday through Thursday. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. The poll does not limit respondents to voters or likely voters.

With the faltering economy as a backdrop, 85 percent of North Carolina residents declared that the nation had gotten off on the wrong track. Only about 10 percent of respondents said it was heading in the right direction. Almost half of voters - 49 percent - blamed the Republicans for economic problems while 26 percent fingered Democrats for most of the blame.

Bacot said residents fed up with the state of the nation appear interested in giving Democrats a chance to set things on course. He also said the economy has been dragging in other issues for the party, including health care, foreclosures and even taxes. That shift comes after a swing in 2006 that put Democrats in control of both chambers of Congress.

"This tidal wave started in '06 and it hasn't subsided," Bacot said. "That tidal wave has grown enormously, and it's started to pull in these other issues in addition to the economy."

Read the release about the poll here. Dig into the poll data here (pdf).