NC voters trust local elections more than national, poll shows

North Carolinians continue to trust their local elections, but are more skeptical about elections across the country, according to a new poll.

The Catawba College-YouGov survey released Tuesday found 70% of North Carolinians are very or somewhat confident in the security, safety, and integrity of the state’s elections, regardless of which party wins. Only 22% said they were not confident, and 8% said they were not sure. 

The results are almost unchanged from a poll Catawba College conducted in August 2024 about North Carolinians and their confidence in elections. 

As for votes being counted accurately in the 2026 election, 75% of North Carolinians said they were confident about votes cast in their own county, compared with 70% for votes elsewhere in North Carolina and 58% for votes cast outside the state. 

“With an unusually clear 17-point county-to-national confidence gap in this survey, what stands out is how consistently North Carolinians draw a distinction between the elections they experience directly and elections farther from home,” said Michael Bitzer, professor of politics and history and director of Catawba’s Center for North Carolina Politics and Public Service.

At the national level, President Donald Trump has repeatedly made claims of election fraud when he isn’t happy with the results. This included the 2020 presidential election, where his supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol to stop Congress from certifying the results. 

Respondents answered similarly about whether elections are administered with security and integrity. Most said they were confident about results in their local county’s elections at 77%, 74% said they were confident in North Carolina elections overall, and only 58% said they were confident in elections across the country. 

“The challenge for election officials is to build on that local confidence while helping voters understand how the broader election system works and why its safeguards are in place,” said Bitzer. 

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North Carolinians also highly valued candidates accepting election results, with 88% saying it’s very or somewhat important for losing candidates to publicly accept winning candidates as legitimate winners. There was broad agreement across partisan groups, including 92% of Democrats, 90% of independents, and 82% of Republicans. 

The survey had a sample size of 1000 North Carolina residents above the age of 18, conducted between July 30 and Aug. 10. The adjusted margin of error is plus or minus 3.59 percentage points.