Nearly 600 residents were telephoned at random in the poll. Interviewers asked these questions: (1) "Do you think a state lottery would be a good idea or a bad idea?" (2) "If North Carolina had a state lottery, would you participate or not?"
Results of question No. 1: 59 percent said they favored a lottery; 28 percent said they opposed the idea; 13 percent said they had no opinion.
Results of question No. 2: 55 percent said they would participate (61 percent of the males polled said they would participate; 50 percent of the females said they would; 66 percent of single people said they would; 55 percent of married people said they would; 67 percent among those under age 40 said they would; 54 percent of those in their 40s said they would; 34 percent of those over 60 said they would; 60 percent of those with incomes above $10,000 said they would; 43 percent of those with incomes below $10,000 said they would).
Also: The poll showed that the level of participation would go up with education level.
Supporters of the legislation said that it could generate $100 million a year for the state's general fund.
Quotations:
Rep. Jeanne Fenner, D-Wilson, who introduced the lottery bill in the House: "It's a misconception that this is going to take food off the table of the poor. It's not true. If it's not bearing out in other states, why should it happen in North Carolina?"
Sen. Richard Barnes, D-Forsyth, who introduced the measure in the Senate, responded to the charge that past lotteries had come under attack because they were fraudulently run: "We've moved forward in progress with lotteries."
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The state of North Carolina had 107 lotteries between 1759 and 1834. Funds were used to construct schools, including the main University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill administration building, manufacturing plants and churches.
The measure has its critics.
The Rev. Coy Privette of Kannapolis, president of the state's Christian Action League, said: "The state, of all people, wants to exploit the weakness of its citizens."
Privette said in a telephone interview that he opposed the lottery because, in addition to the moral issue, it encourages corruption and unfairly taxes the poor. He said: "It seeks to seduce money away from those who are least able to pay."
Privette continued: "They [lotteries] were doomed as failures in the 17th and 18th centuries. So now we're coming right around and adopting something that is bound to fail."
George Yamin, public relations director for the New York State Lottery, where about half of the adult residents participate, was quoted. He said that the average ticket buyer there is 45 years old, white, male and earns more than $20,000 a year.
Privette called attention to Gov. James B. Hunt's opposition to the plan. Privette said: "It's hard to get anything through the General Assembly if the governor is against it."
Privette also said that the Christian Action League would work against the measure in the legislature.
Privette discounted the poll results. He said that actual voting behavior would be "a totally different ball game," and he predicted defeat for a lottery referendum.
At the 95 percent level of confidence, the sampling error of the poll is 4 percentage points.
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Exercise 12.5
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2007 McGraw-Hill Higher Education