High Point University poll: majority of NC registered voters say conventions won’t change their mind

Full announcement from High Point University:

HIGH POINT, N.C., August 28, 2012 – A new High Point University Poll of registered voters finds that 64 percent of respondents say nothing Mitt Romney or Barack Obama will say during the Republican and Democratic National conventions can convince them to change their vote.

This is despite the fact that 63 percent of respondents say they will follow the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla. either fairly or very closely this week.

“This poll shows that the Republican Convention is generating a good deal of attention from voters here in North Carolina,” says Sadie Leder, associate director of the HPU Poll and assistant professor of psychology at HPU. “But it also confirms that people are relatively firm about their choice for president even before the parties hold their respective conventions.”

Is there anything that Mitt Romney or Barack Obama could say at their conventions that would convince you to change your vote in this election?

Yes – 22 percent
No – 64 percent
Not sure – 11 percent
(n = 540, Margin of sampling error +/- 4.3 percent)

Next week, the Republican Party will have its national convention in Tampa, Fla. How closely will you follow the convention? Very closely? Fairly closely? Not too closely? Or not at all closely?

Very closely – 30 percent
Fairly closely – 33 percent
Not too closely – 21 percent
Not at all closely – 15 percent
Not sure – 1 percent
(n = 540, Margin of sampling error +/- 4.3 percent)

For the survey, SurveyUSA interviewed 600 state of North Carolina adults Aug. 19 – Aug. 23. Of the adults, 540 were registered to vote. This research was conducted using blended sample, mixed mode. Respondents reachable on a home telephone (75 percent of adults, 76 percent of registered voters) were interviewed on their home telephone in the recorded voice of a professional announcer. Respondents not reachable on a home telephone (25 percent of adults, 24 percent of registered voters), were shown a questionnaire on their smartphone, laptop, tablet, or other electronic device. In this research, consistent with findings in other states, cellphone respondents are more Democratic than are landline respondents. Romney leads by three points among landline respondents. Obama leads by 12 points among cellphone respondents. When the two groups are proportionally blended, the contest is, as reported here, tied. Additional methodological explanation is available from SurveyUSA: http://www.surveyusa.com/client/methodology6.aspx

Additional details including crosstabs of these questions are available at the High Point University Survey Research Center website: http://src.highpoint.edu/

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