In a press release sent out by Sen. Phil Berger’s office a couple of days ago, Berger included a couple of quotes by Sen. Ralph Hise who unsurprisingly offered a very pointed view of teachers.

In a post yesterday, this blog took aim and responded to two of the points that Hise made, particularly about the NCAE pushing a “nanny-state” and offering a cursory explanation of the “welcome-mat effect.”

But there is something else in what Hise stated that needs to be rebutted. It’s in this screenshot.

He said, “If they think they can continue to push these clearly left-wing ideas while only protesting Republicans and still have people accept that they are a nonpartisan organization, then they must think folks in this state are pretty stupid.”

And then this comes out today – a poll measuring the pulse of how North Carolinians feel about the upcoming teacher march.

Greg Childress of NC Policy Watch broke down the results.

Forty-four percent of voters polled said they are Democrats while 35 percent said they are Republicans. Another 21 percent identified as other. The poll was conducted April 10-12.

Eighty-five percent of voters who identified themselves as Democrats strongly support or somewhat support the May 1 march in Raleigh. And 55 percent of those who said they are Republicans strongly support or somewhat support the march.

Meanwhile, 71 percent of voters who identified as other strongly support or somewhat support the teacher’s march.

When voters were asked if they approve or disapprove of the job the Republican-led General Assembly is doing when it comes to education, only 33 percent of voters approved. Forty-nine percent disapproved and 18 percent were not sure.

Gov. Roy Cooper fared better when asked about his job performance around education. Fifty-one percent of voters said they approve of the job Cooper is doing compared to 35 percent who did not. Fourteen percent were not sure.

The poll’s other findings include:

• Sixty-nine percent (including 62 percent of Republicans) believe North Carolina teacher salaries are too low.
• Seventy-seven percent (including 65 percent of Republicans) support providing enough school librarians, psychologists, social workers, counselors, nurses, and other health professionals to meet national standards.
• Seventy-one percent (including 56 percent of Republicans) support raising the minimum wage for school support employees like bus drivers, cafeteria workers and teacher assistants.
• Sixty-three percent (including 45 percent of Republicans) support raising state income taxes on the wealthiest 1 percent in order to increase public education funding.

Apparently, according to Hise’s perspective, there are a lot of stupid people in North Carolina.