Just one month ago, the two main presidential candidates – Donald Trump and Joe Biden – didn’t really have much interest in the state of North Carolina because there wasn’t any reason to. By all indications, Trump had the state wrapped up with a bow on it, and there was little worry inside the Republican camp that the state would pose a problem.
Likewise, there was little to no hope among the Democrats that, by some miracle, Biden could win the state and its 16 Electoral Votes.
Cut to: One month later. Biden is no longer the Democratic candidate; presidential campaign advertising money is pouring into the state from both parties; and, within the span of three days, both Trump and new presidential candidate Kamala Harris held major campaign events in the state.
Harris made an appearance at Wake County Community College in Raleigh, while two days earlier Trump held a rally in Asheville. And Trump even has plans to return to Asheboro this week.
As of Sunday, August 18, the respected polling website 538 listed the race for the state of North Carolina just about as close as it could be. Using the methodology of averaging polls for each candidate in the 2024 presidential polls, “accounting for each poll’s recency, sample size, methodology and house effects,” led the election polling experts to conclude that the race between Harris and Trump was currently neck and neck.
Trump’s lead was one-third of a percentage point. According to the site, ignoring the margin of error, Trump would be favored to win the state with 45.5 percent of the vote, while Harris is supported by 45.2 percent of those polled. (Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is pulling in 4.1 percent of the vote in North Carolina.)
A YouGov Blue poll from a week ago had the two candidates dead even at 46 percent each in North Carolina, while the most recent New York Times Siena College poll has Harris up by 2, with Trump at 46 percent and Harris at 48 percent.
On Sunday, July 21, when Biden dropped out of the race, most polls had Biden 6 or more points behind Trump in North Carolina and there was no realistic expectation the state would be in play in November.
This week, several national newspapers ran stories on the presidential race in North Carolina and said that it could play a major role in a path to victory for Harris if she can grab the state that historically almost always goes for the Republican presidential candidate.
Another concerning factor for Trump and his supporters is that the Democratic National Convention is being held this week and it’s usually the case that each party – and their presidential candidates – get a slight bump in the polls following their conventions.
Another factor that could help Harris is that she has friends in very high places in the state. NC Governor Roy Cooper, who was considered one of the top contenders to become Harris’ vice-presidential running mate, will no doubt use his political machine to back Harris in a big way.
Locally, the most powerful Democratic political leader in Guilford County has promised he is going to do everything he can to help Harris get elected. Chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners Skip Alston has political connections across the state and he and Harris have become friends in recent years. That connection could especially help boost the black vote in the state.
There has even been some wild speculation that, if Harris does win, Alston could end up with a job in the administration. While that would no doubt delight Republicans in the area who would like to see Alston out of Guilford County government, Alston assured the Rhino Times that there had been no discussions of that sort.
Other “Sunbelt” states – like Georgia and Arizona, that were once considered solid red states – have also become in play; so, this phenomenon isn’t limited to the Tar Heel state.
Of course, while there’s a lot of positivity in the Harris camp right now – and the betting markets have her favored to win the presidency – the election is still a long way off and there are a lot of minefields in her path that could turn the tables on her quickly.
For instance, so far Harris has avoided a challenging sit-down long-form interview or a press conference where she’s asked tough questions by the media.
And then there’s the debate on Tuesday, Sept. 10 on ABC.
While no one expects Harris to completely implode like Biden did in his debate with Trump, there is a chance that she could do poorly and lose some support. Also, between now and the election, Republicans are going to run a never-ending barrage of attack ads on television, radio and social media attempting to label Harris as way too liberal to be president.
Trump seems to be putting a lot of emphasis on the September 10 debate and appears to think it will be a key in the downfall of Harris. He has repeatedly said that she is “dumb as a rock” and he has also said he believes that will become patently obvious on September 10.
“We’ll see how smart she is in the debate,” Trump said this week.
Trump said that anyone can read a speech off a teleprompter and not take questions from the media, but it’s something else to be asked tough questions in front of millions of viewers on live TV.
Republicans also point to the presidential voting history of the state. Voters in North Carolina almost always vote majority Republican in the presidential races. The state has voted Republican in almost every presidential election since 1968. The website 270towin states that the “initial shift was largely in response to white conservative voter uneasiness with the civil rights legislation passed in the mid-1960s, which was effectively exploited by the Republicans ‘southern strategy.’”
Trump won North Carolina in 2016, and 2020, Trump won the state by 3.6 percent over Hillary Clinton in 2016 and by 1.3 percent over Joe Biden in 2020.
In 2012, Mitt Romney beat Obama by about 2 percent in North Carolina.
One has to go back to 2008 to find a Democratic presidential victory for the state. That was when Obama’s hope and change message put him over the top –though a lot of people forget how narrow that victory was even in the wake of the large nationwide margin for Obama.
In North Carolina, Obama beat John McCain by about 14,000 votes out of 4.3 million cast, only about one-third of a percentage point.
Before that, Republicans won the state big in 2004 and 2000, and, from 1980 to 2000, North Carolinians voted Republican in the presidential race every time.
The effect of the rarity of Obama’s North Carolina victory in the state was profound on many die-hard democrats in the state.
The Rhino Times was at the Greensboro Coliseum in 2008 watching the election returns come in that night and there were a slew of national media outlets there as well who were closely watching the senate races. While it was already known relatively early in the night that Obama would win the presidency, it was only later in the evening that the state of North Carolina was called for Obama. When that happened, the Democrats in the audience let out a roar of glee, which no doubt was the result of years of the state handing its electoral votes to the Republican presidential candidates. Some Democrats were even teary-eyed at the announcement that Obama had won the state.
Some analysts point out that Trump won North Carolina by less of a margin in 2020 than he did in 2016 and that the state has had a lot of college students coming in in recent years, which is likely to favor Democratic candidates.
Also, North Carolina is not really a state that falls in the “extreme MAGA” category, as is evidenced by the fact that state voters elected a Democratic governor, and Trump-backed Gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson is running behind in the polls.
First, Robinson is behind because he’s being outspent by a wide margin and that money is being spent on horribly inaccurate advertising.
Secondly , if color is to be a factor in the Presidential election then so will it be in the Governors race.
Lastly, anyone stupid enough to vote for Chameleon Kamala and tampon Tim deserves exactly what they get.
Sad to think low information voters have our future in their hands but then consider who they voted for in local elections.
Lol, Democrats definitely know how to win an election and if Skip gets involved, well, there goes my vote, somewhere.
The first real tell will be the debate. Can Trump keep his weirdness to a minimum and can Kamala answer difficult questions clearly and concisely.
My bet is on Kamala. Trump hasn’t seemed to be able to stay on point lately, instead saying silly things like the Metal of Honor isn’t as good a medal as the presidential medal of freedom and arguing that Kamala isn’t black.
Trump will win nc by about 80,000 votes. Too many Christians
How many is too many Christians?
Christians vote democrat as well.
Trump absolutely must point out to voters that Kamala has a terrible record of getting nothing absolutely positive accomplished. Her running mate, the former governor of Minnesota, has a record of allowing mobs to destroy cities, etc. Both are liberal to the point of destroying America as a free country. And both are compulsive, habitual liars!
Meanwhile Trump has a proven record of keeping his campaign promises: cutting taxes and gas prices, keeping inflation down, cutting regulations and advocating for smaller government. He facilitated numerous peace treaties which the MSM never mentioned. And he would never have left billions of our military equipment in Afghanistan, not to mention American citizens and Afghan citizens who helped us. Now Trump is promising to eliminate income taxes on Social Security and tips . Help for seniors and many young people who are now struggling to make ends meet. .You can believe what he says!
Mexico didn’t pay for the wall
Never presented a replacement for Obamacare (remember how many times he promised it in ‘two weeks?)
He said he would reduce the debt….he raised it
He said he would reduce cost of drugs…he didn’t
Was going to bring back coal jobs…he didn’t…it shrank even more under his administration
Was to ban foreign lobbyists…he didn’t
Promised infrastructure bill (500 billion)…he didn’t (Biden did)
He promised to deport all illegal immigrants …. he didn’t
Promised to end birth right citizenship…he didn’t
I could go on with all of Trump’s failed campaign promises. Truth is the only major legislation he was able to pass was a tax cut for the wealthy that include a tax increase for middle class.
The problem with your rantings (arguments, ramblings, ravings, supposed facts, whatever you want to call them) is like other politicians (D & R) is the candidates use the lack of knowledge and understanding (ignorance, in your case) of how the Federal government works as far as who has the authority and power to
do what.
The power of the President is limited, as is the power of the Congress. If U.S. Government was still taught the way it was a ways back, people would understand this and (hopefully) begin to make election choices accordingly.
The things you listed are NOT within the power of the President. He/She can call for these actions till the cows come home but it is the Congress (you remember them, the body that is SUPPOSED to be the voice and action of the People, not little, vocal groups that seem to drive policy decisions).
Do I agree with everything Trump says and does? No. Do I think he sometimes goes off the deep end? Yes. But hard economic and social facts are hard to refute (at least for normal people), and things were better then this fiasco we just endured for the last 4 years. 13+ of my Brothers and Sisters in Arms would agree wholeheartedly.
I once wrote a letter proposing we build a wall around Washington D.C. with no doors, drop supplies in regularly, put up dummy cameras so these lunatics can rant and rave in front of while we move the Capital to the middle of the America, reform the election process, elect REAL people to REPRESENT us, and get this country back to the glory it once was.
Oh and by the way, I’m sure you are getting that “tingle up your leg” over what’s happening in Great Britain, and how they are handling things, wishing THAT could do that here.
Carpe Diem and Molon Labe
Then that makes Trump a fool for promising them and you for being a bigger fool for believing him. But since you are the fool you are, I will continue by pointing out that Trump failed to even propose legislation to replace Obamacare as he promised. Failed to even propose legislation to ban foreign lobbyists. Failed to pass (even built a consensus within his own party) his legislation for an infrastructure bill. He failed to reduce spending and waste. etc…etc…etc…
Real leaders figure out how to get things done. Trump is not a leader. He is just a blowhard like you. Ignorant and angry old man that has no business leading a line of 3rd graders to the lunchroom, not to mention our great country.
But you be you.
Pointless article. Elections are rigged. Trump said so. Say somehow Trump gets enough electoral votes to become president. The vice president can overturn the election. Trump said so. Well the VP is a Democrat. And of she’ll do it unlike Pence. Don’t waste your time voting.
It is absolutely critical that we vote, en masse!
Don’t EVER tell well informed people not to vote ! Instead we must proclaim the truth loudly and clearly: 4 YEARS OF KAMALA AND WALTZ WILL DESTROY AMERICA AS A FREE COUNTRY !!! Y’all know all the reasons.
And Kamala will reduce prices….
Harris was selected to replace Biden on the ticket three or four weeks ago and has yet to make herself available for questions from the press or public. Why? What else has she got to hide? Do voters realize she plans to get rid of private health insurance? What else do the voters not know? Harris’s radical record is available for those willing to do their own research. Trump is available daily and an open book.
The best comparison is Trump’s first term that had secure borders, low interest rates, little inflation and a soiled economy among other things vs what you saw in the Biden/Harrsi term that included open borders with their rated problems and the expense that was paid by the taxpayers, extremely high interest rates, high gas prices and payment of educational loans by taxpayers along with defunding of the police and the related problems. But democrats say it will be different if they are re-elected. Really?
Where is the Media….do your own research…..thank you Rhinotimes.
During Trump’s first term we had a a president who believed it ok to separate kids from their parents and then lose track of how to get them back together.
We had a president who lacked understanding that tariff’s lead to inflation (he promises more tariff’s as key to his economic policy if elected in 2024)
We had a president whose rhetoric stoked racial hate across the United States (Charlotteville, BLM riots,etc…)
We had a president who diminished the United States global image with our allies and giving praise to our enemies (given his admiration of dictators)
We had a president who unilaterally withdrew from the 2015 nuclear agreement causing chaos throughout the middle east.
We had a president who was impeached twice and found guilty of multiple felonies
Seems like the mainstream news media is kind of like the Pied Piper of Hamelin. At least half the voters in this country believe everything the media tells them about Harris and her running mate and are being lured into supporting this duo. As we all know this Harris is the news media’s darling and too many people believe every “wonderful” thing the mainstream guys say about her…and her partner.
Remember the first sign you are in a cult is that they tell you everyone else is lying.
If the polls cited are correct, who are these Harris voters? Do they want higher and higher inflation? Do they want open borders? Do they want more crime because of open borders? Do they want a socialist government? Do they want their tax money going to fight wars that do not involve Americans rather than spending the money here at home? Do they want to see their sons and grandsons drafted into the military, just to be killed in some foreign place like Iran? Do they want price controls that history has proven do not work? All these things Harris voters must want. How do we know? Because this is what Harris has been a party to since 2020. Harris is a career politician. Career politicians think only about themselves not voters.
Now comes Trump. He will fight inflation by setting in motion plans that will reverse the cause of our current inflation. Trump understands the negative effect that open borders have on a country. Trump will close the open borders. Trump opposes unnecessary wars and foreign entanglements. Who can argue otherwise? Understanding the economy is a Trump strong suit. If the economy is humming along, Americans will be humming along, too. In addition to these strong Trump strengths, he is not a lifelong career politician always eating at the trough of the taxpayer. For me, the future looks much brighter with a Trump victory. Vote your future.
Since you asked:
Borders aren’t open. Inflation is mostly under control and Trump’s economic strategy based on Tariffs are a bigger risk for inflation than Kamala’s plan to fight price gauging. Crime is down and continues to trend down. I believe in healthcare for all but THAT isn’t socialism….educate yourself. Republicans started the wars. A democrat ended it. No one is talking price controls other than with medication.
Funny you can’t name one thing Trump will do to fight inflation. LOL he has no plan. HIs plan actually will drive up inflation with his overuse of tariffs. The borders are already closed and encounters is dropping already. Trump has no track record of ending wars. Democrats do. (Although the last days were messy).
Trump has bankrupted so many companies that US banks will no longer loan him money. He is a NOT good at business and he continuously misspeaks about the economy as he is clearly not very bright. He is just rich because his daddy gave him lots of money and a couple of TV producers made a great TV show about him. Most other business ventures are massive failures…just look at Truth Social. LOL.
Vote Kamala. At least she isn’t weird.
Chis, you are truly desperate to try to make a positive case for KH. You, also, are scared, scared, scared that Trump is set to win. There is so much hatred for Trump. A lot of that hated is based on jealousy and the need to believe that if your candidate wins, you have won. KH does not know who you are and could give a flying flip about you. She is interested in power and what that power means to her. Ask her staff members who have quit. She is a miserable loser that cannot put a proper sentence together. If she had a positive track record of achievements, she should be given credit for those achievements. Unfortunately, for all those who have been negatively impacted by her actions, those things cannot be undone. But the ship can be righted now by sending KH back to the dark life she deserves. To answer your question about what Trump would do to reduce inflation, abandoned and overturn all the inflation causing Biden executive orders, abandon the Green New Deal, return to fracking and oil, and get rid of useless regulations that result in higher prices.
Not hatred. Lack of respect for a childish loser who put himself over country when he lost a fair election and rallied his cult followers to storm the capital and for the first time in American history attempt to stop the peaceful transfer for power.
You are so clearly bought into the lie that is Trump, you have gone all in on his cult. Heck, Trump can’t put together a clear sentence most of the time. I can name hundreds of actions that Trump has done that should discredit him from being in office. (his lack of respect for women with his grab em by the pussy comment, his claiming Kamala isn’t Black, his big lie about the 2020 election, his claiming America is a failed country, he promoting hate against anyone who doesn’t agree with him on everything he says and does his love of Putin, His history of fraud in business, etc..etc..etc..)
In your little rant you spout a great deal of hate about Kamala yet fail to point to a single failing. All you shared was hate. I think the phrase I am looking for is ‘the pot calling the kettle black”. LOL
But you be you.
I have no hate for KH. How can I hate someone I’ve never met. You are conflating personal feelings about KH with personal beliefs about her policies. And since I do not personally know KH, my personal beliefs are based on her actions, the programs she supports, the actions or lack thereof, she has taken through the years, the choices she has made. I listen to her speak extemporaneously and my hair begins to hurt trying to understand what she uttered. If you are comfortable with KH sitting across the table from Putin and negotiating a deal, then Chris, I sincerely question your judgment. KH has gotten this far in politics by means other than qualifications and merit. She is a true DEI.
“The dark life she deserves”
Right. No hate there at all? First step to recovery is acknowledging you have a problem. Good luck with that.
A vote for Kamala and Company is a vote for economic and social destruction. Any voter that buys into her “price gouging” argument, has no clue of the utter failure of such plans. Look back to Nixon’s wage and price control failure for a recent example. We have to vote red if want to see our country prosper. A blue vote, at any level, is a vote for failure.
So her plan will fail. (I agree most price gouging bills fail as it is too difficult to define price gouging) But how will that drive economic or social destruction? or are you just being a drama queen like most conservatives that have bought into the Trump campaign of fear and hate?
The democrats brought us out of massive inflation (mostly caused by covid related issues and war in Europe) without a recession. Democrats’ standup for the working class where Trump raised taxes on the middle class while giving permeant tax breaks to the wealthy and big business.
Spoiler Alert: There is a reason RFK is doing better here than the difference between the two candidates. Many moderate centrists who were once Republicans are now Independents out of disgust with Trump and Woke. I suspect they may well support local Republicans who also demonstrate moderation, and maybe even Democrats who do so, but otherwise will not be inclined to support either national party under the current national candidates. They are tired of holding their noses and voting for the “lesser of two evils,” and will no longer support candidates who promote either of the two extreme wings. It’s a safety play, since they know by now that neither of the extreme wings will ever deliver anything beneficial to the average centrist.
Update! The Biden/Harris administration has just announced that ICE has lost track of over 30,000 unaccompanied minors.
WTF chris, you have no clue what a nation needs to be great. Close the border, stop with all the abortions, let ice do their job, reduce credit rates so people can afford a decent home. Enough dammit
I think you mean that we disagree on what makes a nation great. I believe that we secure borders (not closed borders-which we have in spite of conservative blocking immigration reform). I agree, that ICE should be able to do their jobs which the ARE and are doing a great job. I believe we need freedom of choice with how best to care for our own bodies with our medical professionals. I believe we have a great federal banking system that has done an amazing job recovering from inflation without a recession so that rates WILL come down and improve ability to purchase homes as a critical part of our economy.
Most importantly, I am smart enough to think for myself and know and understand how economics works so I don’t buy into the political rhetoric of candidates and their followers misrepresenting blame and fault for political gain. I KNOW Trump’s tariff strategy for the economy will spike inflation and slow our economy down. I KNOW it is a bad idea for Trump to have direct say or control over interest rates as the claims he should have (remember this guy has bankrupted so many companies that US banks no longer loan him money).
I also believe the Climate change is a real issue, is man made and needs immediate uncomfortable solutions for so my grandkids can have a positive future.
I also believe ALL Americans deserve equal treatment under the law, including LGBTQ, minorities, and all religions.
Enough dammit. Let’s get a real leader that let’s the experts in economics, foreign policy, and domestic policy run the country versus an autocrat who believes his own BS. First critical skill of great leaders is the ability to identify great talent and let them do their jobs.
But you be you.
Unfortunately, there are no real leaders left in the Democrat party. As far as being able to identify great talent with critical skills, who are you thinking about, KH who selected Tim Walz as her running mate?
Chris, if you were living during the time of the War Between the States, you would have been considered a Confederate sympathizer, since tariffs were opposed by the Confederate states, and were a cause of secession. The federal government at the time loved tariffs since tariffs protected the Northern manufacturers. The South sold their products to other countries and those countries manufactured goods that they wanted to sell in the US. Tariffs made imported goods more expensive, thereby the federal government protected domestic production. Are you against American production of goods even if those goods come with a higher price?