North Carolina is most popular big state in US, poll finds. Where do others land?
North Carolina, home to the Outer Banks, the Great Smoky Mountains, elite universities and numerous professional sports teams, is the most popular big state in the country, according to new polling.
In the latest YouGov poll, the Tar Heel State beat out larger coastal enclaves such as New York, California and Florida.
The survey — conducted with 1,144 U.S. adults June 9-11 — asked respondents whether they have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of the 10 most populous states.
Sixty-three percent said they had a favorable view of North Carolina, while 18% said they held an unfavorable view, giving it a net rating of 45% — by far the highest of the sample. It also had the highest overall favorability rating.
Pennsylvania came in a distant second, with a net rating of 34%, followed by Georgia (32%), Michigan (26%) and Texas (24%).
Making up the bottom half were Florida (22%), Ohio (22%), Illinois (20%), New York (20%) and California (11%).
Responses, though, were massively divided based on partisanship, with Democrats generally favoring blue states, and Republicans favoring red states.
Among Democrats, New York received the highest net rating of 69%. The Empire State was followed by California (68%), Illinois (56%) and Pennsylvania (48%).
Meanwhile, the top state for Republicans was Texas, which received a net rating of 72%. Florida came in second with 70%, followed by North Carolina with 68%.
The poll — which has a margin of error of 3.7 percentage points — is not the first to rank North Carolina near the top of states.
In May, U.S. News & World Report named the Tar Heel State as having the seventh-best economy and being the fifth best for growth. Overall, it was rated as the 13th best state.
'We have long known that North Carolina is a top state to live, work, and raise a family,' Democratic Gov. Josh Stein said in a news release about the report.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2024, North Carolina was the fourth-fastest growing state in terms of sheer numbers and the eighth fastest by growth as a share of the total population.
By other metrics, it has not performed as well. In 2024, it ranked 34th in terms of public schools, according to the World Population Review. The state also ranked 17th for employment, 25th for crime and 32nd for infrastructure, according to U.S. News & World Report.
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