Poll Shows NC Supports ERA!

A brand-new Meredith Poll of North Carolinians shows the continuing and overwhelming support for equal protection under the law regardless of sex. The results were released on Monday, March 6. Meredith Poll Director, David McLennan, will be present at a press conference Wednesday, March 8, at the NC General Assembly to discuss the results and take questions from the press.

Visit the Meredith Poll website to read the full poll report. The press conference will be streamed live on the ERA-NC Alliance Facebook page.

Responses to the Poll show an increasing majority of North Carolina voters support the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). The poll was conducted in partnership with ERA-NC Alliance.

In 2019, the Meredith Poll gauged public approval of the ERA finding that 67.4 percent of the respondents supported the General Assembly passing the bill to ratify the ERA, while only 16.9 percent opposed its passage. In the 2023 administration of the Meredith Poll, the level of support has increased to 71.5
percent and the level of opposition has decreased to 13.5 percent.

Support for passing the ERA is nearly universal with only those with less than a high school education and those who self-identify as “very conservative” at approval levels of less than 50 percent.

“Despite strong public support and organized lobbying on behalf of the ERA, legislators seem unwilling to give a bill ratifying this amendment a fair hearing. There are some in the legislature who believe that the time for ERA’s passage is in the past and others with principled opposition to the amendment, however, given the perception that women continue to face discrimination in North Carolina, having the debate and vote on the amendment could send a powerful message that equality is important for all,” said Meredith Poll Director David McLennan.While there are some partisan differences, with Democratic support being over 86 percent and Republican support just under 62 percent, the survey found that men and women have similar approval levels for the ERA, as do people who live in the urban, suburban, and rural areas of the state.

“The Meredith Poll results definitively confirm what we’ve always known — that North Carolinians value equality and a single set of laws governing both men and women,” said Teri Walley, co-president of the ERA-NC Alliance. “Our lawmakers must act now. North Carolina voters will no longer be held hostage by politicians’ failure to end discrimination against women.