Election Entry: Wolfpackers really are more red & Tar heels really are more blue

Miscellaneous & Fun Stuff64

We are not going to completely ignore the biggest the story in the world today; but, at least we can kick off the entry by tying the election to our primary focus here on the blog.

With that said, I thought you would be interested in this little poll put together by the folks at Elon. It is always interesting to me how numbers and statistics often support stereotypes and generalities. (Of course, the stereotypes have to evolve from SOMEWHERE — usually they evolve from more truth than not or the ideas wouldn’t stand the test of time)

It seems the jersey colors of the premier men’s college basketball teams from North Carolina might also reveal their fans’ picks for president.

The latest Elon University Poll asked likely voters to share which North Carolina men’s hoops programs they support during college basketball season. Of the top three schools cited in the poll:

Those who wear the “red” of the North Carolina State University Wolfpack overwhelmingly back Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, by a 59-30 margin.

UNC Tar Heel fans and their “Carolina blue” apparel prefer incumbent President Barack Obama this fall by a 53-41 margin.

And Duke University? Blue Devils supporters are nearly divided with a slight edge favoring Obama (47-45 percent).

In the race for North Carolina governor, it turns out there is something that unites diehard fans of all persuasions: Pat McCrory.

The Republican former mayor of Charlotte, N.C., draws support from all three fan bases, most notably from N.C. State fans, where 63 percent of Wolfpack voters said they support McCrory over his Democratic opponent, Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton. Tar Heel fans would vote for McCrory as well by a 52-38 margin. Duke fans are more evenly divided, though McCrory still holds a 47-43 edge.

The live-caller telephone poll of 1,238 likely voters was conducted Oct. 21-26, 2012, and has an overall margin of error of 2.79 percentage points. Both landlines and cell phones were included in the sample.

Just because NC State supporters tend to be more conservative and support Republican candidates does not mean that the professors and administrators in West Raleigh follow step. This tidbit of work done by Technician would seem to indicate that the beliefs of NC State students and faculty diverge a bit.

It is no secret that relative to most college campuses, NC State’s student body and overall campus environment has historically leaned relatively moderate-to-conservative. With this said, I would welcome your thoughts on other large universities around the country that has a similar ‘political profile’ than State. Of course, Texas A&M immediately comes to my mind as a/the bastion of conservatism for colleges. Is there anyone else that even comes close to them?

For this entry only we are going to let SFN become a little more ‘free flowing’ than normal. With this said, please feel free to politically ‘go to it’ today on this entry. You can also feel comfortable sharing news, updates and links in this entry as well in this open thread on message forums. Outside of that, the rest of our message forums – linked here – are hot with dozens of currently relevant NC State sports topics.

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Miscellaneous & Fun Stuff

64 Responses to Election Entry: Wolfpackers really are more red & Tar heels really are more blue

  1. highstick 11/06/2012 at 9:03 PM #

    Foose, I can throw the opposite at you..in a master’s level systems course, the engineering brainchildren didn’t have a clue about cost accounting and how the costs were accumulated. We gave them the proper input and advice and they screwed up the entire project for the entire class.

    Stubborn “know it all’s” who wouldn’t ask questions or take advice from the 6 other component parts of the organization.

  2. lawful 11/06/2012 at 9:30 PM #

    Democrats are ruining this country.

  3. tjfoose1 11/06/2012 at 9:55 PM #

    I know the type, ‘Stick. I’m kinda a hybrid mutt myself without a ‘home’.

    Engineer by trade and training, but was minoring in history for a time. Subscribe to archeological and history magazines, taught for a bit, then took business and accounting courses and wound up with an associates degree in business.

    I’ve run the gambit… AFTER earning my degree, and not in this order, I’ve been an engineer, mason mud mixer hauling bricks on a construction site, a waiter and bartender, full time student, student athlete, teacher, landlord, coach, programmer/developer, corporate trainer, system analyst, change management consultant, and unemployed. I was even an administrative assistant for a short period of time, filling in for someone on maternity leave. I’m sure I missed a few in there somewhere.

    Anyway, I have varying perspectives. Let the jokes begin…

  4. old13 11/06/2012 at 11:32 PM #

    “Democrats are ruining this country.”

    Exactly!!! At best, they are socialist. But I do think there is an underlying communist influence, ala Hugo Chavez, waiting to move. The Ass Hole thinks he was elected King the first time and now he’ll think he’s god!! The American voters just proved how stupid the majority are. Obama couldn’t lead a thirsty mule to water, much less make intelligent executuve decisions. This country is doomed!!! U.S. House better hold strong!

  5. Wulfpack 11/07/2012 at 12:16 AM #

    “Relax, people. Romney has this.”

    Care to revise that projection, TBK?

    Are we going to beat Wake this year?

  6. TruthBKnown Returns 11/07/2012 at 9:38 AM #

    It was a close race. It went the other way. Wow, I predicted a winner of a presidential race and got it wrong. How terrible.

    We should have no trouble with Wake. But we should have had no trouble with Virginia, either. It all depends on the mindset of the team. After the Virginia game (and maybe dating back to the fourth quarter of the Carolina game) I’m not convinced TOB still has his players. If he has lost them, all bets are off for the rest of the season. If we show up and play with pride, we’ll beat Wake handily.

  7. Pack Mentality 11/07/2012 at 10:36 AM #

    “At best, they are socialist. But I do think there is an underlying communist influence, ala Hugo Chavez, waiting to move. The Ass Hole thinks he was elected King the first time and now he’ll think he’s god!! The American voters just proved how stupid the majority are. Obama couldn’t lead a thirsty mule to water, much less make intelligent executuve decisions. This country is doomed!!!”

    Remember how the conservative radio talking point (during W’s re-election campaign) used to be that when Democrats were in control the Republicans did not spew such venom and hate at them like the Democrats do? I knew it was bullshit then…

  8. Gene 11/07/2012 at 11:02 AM #

    “So you are voting for Obama cause you want “someone else” to pay for your education? ”

    Well I voted for Obama.

    I’m grateful for the good citizens of North Carolina for massively subsidizing the cost of my undergraduate college education.

    Anyone, who is a product of the UNC System has someone else footing a good chunk of the bill for their college education.

    Just did an MBA at a private school and the cost differential between what was paid, in the early-to-mid-1990’s, in tuition versus what I just got finished paying differs by two orders of magnitude.

  9. highstick 11/07/2012 at 12:08 PM #

    Foose, saw your comment on “healthcare background”…likewise and with some common client base you also mentioned.

  10. haze 11/07/2012 at 12:43 PM #

    Can’t say the tenure of this debate is very encouraging, a whole lot of stereotyping going on here.

    Simple fact, this was a close election fought on fairly cynical grounds by both sides. The incumbents won… in the White House, in the Senate and in the House. Welcome to last year.

    Personally, I think Romney’s candidacy was thwarted by a poorly conceived primary process (e.g. 20+ fratricidal debates) that forced him to express views at odds with the 5-10% population of centrists who generally decide national elections. In addition, the President benefited from late economic news (mild though it may have been) and was cemented by Sandy (a random, unique & uncynical leadership opportunity).

    So be it.

    Real questions I have are the following…
    1) Do the parties have the guts to search out a wholistic fiscal solution that recognizes that solvency requires both spending control & income?
    2) Can the Democratic party maintain it’s diversity advantage without fracturing it’s agenda and the Federal budget?
    3) What is the Republican Party’s plan for relevance as their aging, predominantly White base is steadily diminished by demographic trends?

  11. TruthBKnown Returns 11/07/2012 at 2:09 PM #

    It is pretty clear that we have a media that is more than willing to be complicit in the campaign of a democratic presidential hopeful. That is something I’d also like to know what conservatives/republicans could do about it.

    That problems in Libya that resulted in the slayings of American representatives there were known about in advance of that attack. Our intelligence knew about it. Obama knew about it. And we did nothing about it.

    We also knew the attack was a planned, orchestrated, and organized attack by Al Quada. Their militia attacked with grenade launchers and mortars. It was not about that movie about Mohammed that was released around that same time.

    And Obama knew it. He blatantly lied to the American people when he stated that it was about Muslims that were infuriated by that movie.

    And then he and Hillary had the audacity to apologize to those people for that movie!

    There was an American soldier there that thought he had support from his own country’s military, who put himself into harm’s way in order to laser a target, one of Al Quada’s mortars, only to have the rug pulled out from him when the support never came.

    This is not only newsworthy, it is SCANDALOUS.

    And our media barely said a word about it.

    That would have REALLY hurt Obama’s image, and right before the 2012 election.

    THIS is a huge problem that needs to be addressed. Our media would have SLAIN a republican president that handled the same situation the same way. But they sat by idly on their hands when this happened.

  12. buclark 11/07/2012 at 5:59 PM #

    This was a stupid idea. It is a shame that most of my Wolfpack fellow alumni never got beyond Jesse Helm,s level of intelligence

  13. ChiefJoJo 11/07/2012 at 7:03 PM #

    Come on SFN. Stick with your mission:

    “Your independent blog on NC State Athletics”

    There are thousands of blogs to go to talk politics, but not many NC State blogs. The country/state is already divided enough and the last thing I want is to come to the blog and see more politics. People want an outlet for State sports and delving into politics ruins that. Please stop.

  14. ChemE79a 11/08/2012 at 7:27 AM #

    Several people commented on pollsters adjusting their polls to have more democratic voters. The suggestion was that this shift to Dems had some nefarious basis. Rove and Morris agreed with you and “corrected” the polls to come up with their predictions. Pollsters adjust the party numbers to reflect the composition of the actual voters. Rove and Morris blew it because they could not believe that the 2012 voter demographics would match 2008 instead of older elections. Clearly they were wrong.

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