Economy, immigration top issues among Republican primary voters
A new Emerson College Polling/WNCT/CBS17 survey of North Carolina’s 1st Congressional District Republican Primary finds retired Army Colonel Laurie Buckhout leading with 26%, followed by Carteret County Sheriff Asa Buck at 22%, and State Senator Bobby Hanig at 11%. Five percent support Lenoir County Commissioner Eric Rouse. Thirty-six percent are undecided ahead of the March primary election.
“Women voters support Buckhout by a nine-point margin, 26% to 17%, while men are split: 27% support Buck and 26% Buckhout,” Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling, said. “Registered Republicans are split between Buckhout and Buck, at 26% and 25% respectively, while unaffiliated voters break for Buckhout by ten points, 26% to 16%, while Hanig also pulls 16% from this group.”
About four in five Republican primary voters (81%) in the district think tariffs are more beneficial to the economy, while 12% think they are more harmful. Seven percent think they have no impact.
Twelve percent of Republican primary voters describe the state of the nation’s economy as “excellent,” a majority (63%) think it is “good,” 21% think it is “not so good,” and 4% think it is “poor.”
Thirty-seven percent of Republicans think the economy is the top issue facing North Carolina, 18% immigration, 10% healthcare, 9% threats to democracy, 7% education, 7% housing affordability, and 4% crime.
Voters were also asked what the most important issue facing their community is in an open-ended question. Issues of affordability and economic concerns were paramount: 16% note affordability is the top issue, 13% the economy, 10% affordable housing, 7% crime, 7% jobs, including lack of opportunities and low wages, and 6% immigration.
Methodology
The Emerson College Polling North Carolina 1st District survey was conducted February 6-8, 2026. The sample of North Carolina likely Republican Primary voters, n=500, has a margin of error (MOE), of +/- 4.3 percentage points. The data sets were weighted by gender, age, and education based on U.S. Census parameters and voter file data.
It is important to remember that subsets based on demographics, such as gender, age, education, and race/ethnicity, carry with them higher credibility intervals, as the sample size is reduced. Survey results should be understood within the poll’s range of scores, and with a confidence interval of 95% a poll will fall outside the range of scores 1 in 20 times.
Data was collected by contacting a voter list of cellphones via MMS-to-web text and email, voter lists provided by Aristotle. The survey was offered in English.
All questions asked in this survey with exact wording and order, along with full results, demographics, and cross tabulations can be found below. The survey is sponsored by Nexstar Media – WNCT/CBS17.
