Poll: N.C. residents support health reform

ELON, N.C. -- North Carolinians' support of health care reform hasn't wavered in the past five months as three-quarters continue to back changes to the system, according to a poll released Friday.

The results of the Elon Poll conducted by Elon University were released in advance of the U.S. House vote on health care reform expected Sunday.

The poll taken this week shows that 78 percent of respondents believe the health care system needs reform, mirroring results of the October poll, when 76.6 percent said reform is necessary.

Fifteen percent say the system is fine as is, and 6 percent say something needs to be done but the government shouldn't make the change.

On another subject, the poll shows that North Carolinians are more aware of the state's laws about public access to government records, information and meetings than they were a year ago.

Forty-six percent are aware this year, compared to 35 percent in 2009.

Seventy-four percent said public access to records is "very important," while 83 percent believe open records and meetings keep government operations honest. Nearly all - 91 percent - said they believe democracy operates best when it's open.

The poll also shows that 78 percent believe exceptions should be made to government transparency if that aids the war on terrorism.

The poll also asked about the state Alcoholic Beverage Control system, which has received scrutiny after reports of a liquor company paying for a fancy dinner for local ABC leaders and a local administrator getting paid more than $250,000 a year.

Thirty-eight percent said they support changes to the system, which involves both state and county control, while 32 percent say the system is fine as it is.

More than half - 51 percent - of respondents think there should be equal state and private sector involvement with alcoholic beverage control in North Carolina, while 23 percent believe only the state should be involved and 20 percent believe only the private sector should be involved.

"Residents are mixed in their assessments about who should control the ABC system, and basically endorse some sort of joint public-private venture for it," said Hunter Bacot, poll director.

"Citizens do not want to remove government entirely from the equation and are also not ready to abdicate complete control of the ABC system to the private sector."

The poll was conducted March 14-17. It surveyed 579 North Carolina residents, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.2 percentage points.