An Update from the Center for North Carolina Politics & Public Service
North Carolinians overwhelmingly say vaccines are effective at preventing serious diseases and essential to public health, while majorities also believe new artificial intelligence (AI) data centers should be powered by renewable energy, according to the latest Catawba-YouGov Survey of 1,000 residents.
“The October survey not only tracked North Carolina’s political landscape and civic health, but also engaged our faculty in exploring key public & personal health, technology, and environmental issues,” said Dr. Michael Bitzer, professor of politics and history and director of the Center for North Carolina Politics & Public Service. “By surveying our state regarding vaccines, renewable energy, and AI, we’re helping Catawba students and scholars connect classroom insights with statewide perspectives.”
YouGov administered the online survey between October 16-24, 2025. The survey’s overall margin of error (adjusted for weights) is plus/minus 3.79 percent, meaning that in 95 out of 100 samples such as the one used here, the results should be at most 3.79 percentage points above or below the figure obtained by interviewing all North Carolinians. Where the results of subgroups are reported, the margin of error will be greater. See the methodology section for more information; survey results should be viewed as informative and not determinative.
PUBLIC TRUST IN VACCINES REMAINS STRONG
Three-quarters of North Carolinians believe that vaccines are effective in preventing serious diseases, with strong partisan support across the board: 69 percent of Republicans, 75 percent of Independents, and 86 percent of Democrats agree.
And seven out of ten respondents believe public health protection and improvement require vaccinations: 84 percent of Democrats agree, along with 70 percent of Independents and 61 percent of Republicans. Two-thirds of North Carolinians believe that vaccines are generally safe for use, with only 13 percent disagreeing. Sixty-three percent of respondents agreed that vaccine benefits outweigh the risks, and 58 percent trust scientific and medical experts to provide accurate information about vaccines.
However, North Carolinians are divided on three components related to vaccines and public health that have dominated the news, with clear partisan differences:
- 53 percent agree that people should have the right to refuse vaccines, even if it risks public health, with 72 percent of Republicans agreeing with this sentiment, compared to only 49 percent of independents and 41 percent of Democrats
- 52 percent agree that people should have the right to refuse vaccines for their children, with 68 percent of Republicans in agreement while only 50 percent of Independents and 40 percent of Democrats agreed
- 49 percent agree that vaccines do not cause autism, while a quarter of respondents (26 percent) neither agree nor disagree, but again we see partisan differences with 65 percent of Democrats in agreement, followed by 47 percent of Independents, and 38 percent of Republicans surveyed
“The partisan differences and overall survey results draw attention to one of the biggest challenges in public health policy, namely that science is only one piece of the policy puzzle. What the public values and their trust in those charged with crafting public health policy are crucial to the process, too,” said Dr. Sue Calcagni, associate professor of biology and environmental science, whose class wrote the questions for inclusion in the survey.
“North Carolinians across political parties largely agree with the scientific foundations of vaccine policy (vaccine safety, efficacy, and utility as a tool to protect public health), a very encouraging result. But their trust in those making vaccine recommendations, as well as survey respondents’ positions on vaccine choice, are more complex with distinct partisan differences. Public health officials should find these results quite informative,” Calcagni noted.
The survey also asked questions regarding food safety. Sixty percent of North Carolinians believe food produced and sold in the United States is safe to consume, while a majority (56 percent) place a higher value on affordability than on how the food was produced.
And North Carolinians are concerned if the food industry were to police itself. When asked “If there were reductions in required federal and state health and safety standards for food production, would you trust the food industry to maintain high standards on their own?”, only a quarter said they would trust the food industry, with another quarter neither trusting nor distrusting.
Majorities of Democrats and Independents said they would not trust the food industry, while a plurality of Republicans (45 percent) said they would not.
“These survey results signal that North Carolinians across political affiliations value affordability and safety when it comes to the foods they provide their families,” said Calcagni, adding “the findings also demonstrate that people rely on federal and state agencies to help ensure the quality and safety of the food they eat, indicating support for this important role of government in public health.”
RENEWABLE ENERGY FAVORED FOR AI DATA CENTERS
When it comes to the development of artificial intelligence (AI) data centers and the power to support them, majorities of North Carolinians believe that renewable energy should be a major factor in AI data centers.
Over two-thirds of North Carolinians (68 percent) believe that the nation should invest in more renewable energy, and that support is across the partisan board, with 75 percent of Democrats, 72 percent of Independents, and 58 percent of Republicans agreeing.
Sixty percent of North Carolinians are concerned about both the “power needed to fuel AI” and the “availability of water on the plant.” Again, majorities across the political spectrum share these concerns.
A majority of North Carolinians believe that renewable energy should fuel AI data centers, but partisan differences exist over this issue. Only a plurality of Republicans agree (42 percent), while 58 percent and 56 percent of Democrats and Independents agree, respectively.
And while forty percent of North Carolinians agree that that the nation should prioritize AI development, only a quarter believe that AI development is more important than renewable energy.
“These findings suggest that North Carolinians, regardless of political affiliation, are quite concerned about the environmental impacts of AI and data centers,” said Dr. Andrew Jacobson, assistant professor of environment and sustainability at Catawba. “Americans are paying attention to the fact that AI and new data centers are turbo-charging their electricity prices and impose environmental costs in their area directly and indirectly.”
But Jacobson added, “we should be more creative in ways that address the financial and environmental costs of data centers. For instance, we could be implementing the findings of research suggesting that new data centers could be accommodated without the need for new power plants if data centers’ energy demands were flexible and curtailed a fraction of the year.”
“This is hyper-relevant to us here in Rowan County, as Duke Energy is proposing two new natural gas turbines at the Buck station a few miles from campus. This proposal by Duke Energy also contrasts with the strong support for increasing renewable energy generation, with approximately three-quarters of Democrats and Independents and more than half of Republicans believing the US needs to invest more in renewable energy.”
MIXED VIEWS ON ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS
Bare majorities of North Carolinians see the worth of environmental laws. While 51 percent of respondents agree that such laws “have been effective and improved our natural environment,” only 49 percent agree that the benefits have outweighed the costs imposed.
Forty-three percent of respondents agree that environmental laws have hampered economic development, but significant partisan differences exist: 59 percent of Republicans agree while only 32 percent of Democrats do.
When asked whether climate change efforts should be scaled back by the federal government, less than four out of ten North Carolinians agreed:
- 39 percent agreed that the federal government should cut back on researching, monitoring, and addressing climate change
- 39 percent agreed that regulations designed to reduce climate pollution from gasoline-fueled cars should be eliminated
- 37 percent agreed with the federal government revoking a 2009 policy declaring climate change a threat.
Among all three questions, at least six out of ten Republicans agreed, while only two out of ten Democrats did.
Jacobson viewed these findings as support for continued efforts to address climate change at the federal level. “While the partisan divide is quite large, the plurality of North Carolinians disagrees with reductions in research, monitoring or efforts to address climate change.” The survey found Democrats feel most strongly about the issue, with over half of Democrats strongly disagreeing on all three questions related to scaling back on climate change research and monitoring.
