Measuring North Carolina Culture, From Food To Favorite Cities

We've got another poll for you that may cause some controversy around the dinner table.

We promise, though: no politics here.

Raleigh-based Public Policy Polling has released its survey of North Carolina culture. Each year, the pollster takes the temperature of residents around the state on a bevy of nonpolitical issues.

So, whose stock is up and whose is down?

Let's start with the important stuff: food.

According to the PPP survey, North Carolinians prefer Winston-Salem-based Krispy Kreme over Dunkin' Donuts by more than 40 points. But parse the numbers a bit and you'll find something interesting.

“There's a massive divide on the issue based on whether people were born in the state or moved here from somewhere else,” according to the analysis released Tuesday.

While North Carolina natives overwhelmingly prefer Krispy Kreme, people who move here like it by a slimmer margin: only about 10 points.

There's also some (kind of) bad news for Lexington barbecue fans here. The pollster found more residents prefer the Eastern North Carolina style instead. (A cursory survey of the WFDD news team yielded different results, but we're not the data scientists.)

What about sports? Well, unsurprisingly, not all Tarheels are Tarheel fans.

About a third of North Carolinians say they're UNC basketball supporters, while 19 percent went for Duke. Only about five percent said they loved Wake Forest.

Meanwhile, fewer North Carolinians are doing the dab for the state's NFL team. In last year's poll, 58 percent of respondents said they were fans of Cam Newton and the Panthers. This year, after a rough season, they're down to 44 percent.

Among fans, though, 70 percent are still cool with coach Ron Rivera.

Finally, let's talk about where we live.

Using the difference between people who have favorable opinions of a city versus those with unfavorable opinions, PPP tried to measure the popularity of North Carolina's major cities. The pollster asked a similar question in 2012.

While Wilmington came out as the most popular metro in the state, Triad cities did all right, too. Winston-Salem came in fourth in the favorability differential, while Greensboro came in fifth. Durham and Fayetteville brought up the rear.

While there was little change in public opinion on the Triad's popularity, North Carolina's biggest cities also took the biggest hits. Charlotte took a 12-point dive between 2012 and today, while Raleigh lost eight, even though it remains among the favorite cities on PPP's survey.