DURHAM -- For the second time since 2003, a recent public opinion poll commissioned by the Durham Convention & Visitors Bureau shows that Durham has the most positive image of North Carolina's five largest cities.
Past surveys have documented that Durham's image has been positive nationwide and in Durham itself, but lower in adjacent areas -- particularly Wake County and Raleigh.
The poll, conducted in August by Wake County-based NanoPhrades, shows nearly 76 percent of all North Carolina residents have a positive or very positive overall image of Durham, a 6.5 to 1 positive to negative ratio. Significantly, Durham's "very" positive to "very" negative ratio is even higher at more than 12 to 1 which indicates the strength of the opinion.
Winston-Salem at 70.2 percent, and Charlotte at 64.9 percent, have approximately 6.3 to 1 and 3.8 to 1 positive to negative image ratios, respectively.
While Greensboro and Raleigh each have a slightly more than 1 to 1 positive to negative image ratio, those two counties have larger percentages of people with neither a positive nor negative image, nearly 20 percent and more than 28 percent, respectively.
The percentage with a "very" positive image of Charlotte is highest at 40.7 percent, ahead of Durham at 37.1 percent and Winston-Salem at 28.1 percent but Charlotte also had a higher "very" negative at 7.4 percent compared to Durham at 3.1 percent and Winston-Salem at 3.9 percent.
Among residents of Wake County, Raleigh's positive to negative ratio is also 1 to 1 with 27 percent neither positive nor negative. However, Raleigh's overall image among residents of its county has improved approximately 12 percentage points to 37.2 percent from a separate poll commissioned in the early part of this decade by an organization based there.
Durham's overall image, while lowest among Wake County residents, is more positive there than the image residents in that county have of Raleigh, which is one of 12 cities and towns located there.
