School safety listed as top voter concern in North Carolina: poll

School safety is the top concern among voters in North Carolina, according to a new High Point University poll.

In the poll, published on Thursday, 74 percent of respondents from the state said they thought school safety was a “very important” issue, narrowly edging out education (73 percent) and inflation (73 percent) as the issue most often cited in that category. Another 17 percent of voters polled said they thought that school safety was “somewhat important.”

Two percent said they didn’t think the issue was important at all.

Thirty percent of respondents said they thought Democrats would deal with the issue of school safety better than Republicans, with 29 percent of survey takers saying they thought the GOP would do a better job.

The poll comes as crime, abortion, inflation and health care seem to be top priorities for voters ahead of the crucial November midterm elections. Republicans are hoping to gain control of both chambers of Congress. 

A SurveyUSA-WRAL poll out on Monday showed North Carolina Republican Senate nominee Rep. Ted Budd leading Democratic nominee Cheri Beasley by a razor-thin 1 percentage point.

The candidates are campaigning to fill the seat being left vacant by retiring GOP Sen. Richard Burr.

The High Point University poll on top concerns was conducted from Sept. 14-20 with a total of 1,041 respondents participating. The poll’s margin of error is plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.