We learn from a new Public Policy Polling survey that just 41 percent of North Carolinians think the state will be better off because of a Republican-controlled legislature, while 37 percent predict that we’ll be worse off.

Coverage of the new poll in “Under the Dome” suggests that the numbers offer some good news to Gov. Beverly Perdue. Voters might not like her, but they don’t like the Republicans, either.

That assessment prompts two responses. First, unlike the Republican-led General Assembly, which is still one month away from taking office, Perdue has had two years (as governor, and more than a decade before that as a legislator and lieutenant governor) to try to build public support.

Second, PPP’s Tom Jensen offers the following assessment:

When
you combine the feelings North Carolinians have about both parties in
the legislature with the persistent negative feelings toward Bev Perdue,
the main thing you can take away is that North Carolina voters just
don’t like their state government and that cuts across party lines.

Given uncompetitive tax rates, burdensome regulations, and a poor bang for the buck, the distaste for North Carolina state government is understandable. That’s why a GOP-led legislature might want to look at ideas that will lead to better government performance in the future.