'Trump aims to solidify support among North Carolina Republicans': 'He's trying to put the nail in the coffin'
Polling results are close, yet Republicans are observing positive indicators in early voting trends.
TroibNews 
**GREENSBORO, North Carolina** — Concerns among Republicans about North Carolina have been heightened since Kamala Harris significantly narrowed the polling gap two months ago. However, just days into early voting, the GOP feels more optimistic, crediting Donald Trump with diminishing her campaign.
At a rally on Tuesday night, Trump proclaimed that Harris was “cratering in the polls,” asserting that she was “sleeping” due to a lack of scheduled public campaign events.
While polls indicate a close race in North Carolina and Trump often inflates his numbers in public surveys, recent early voting data has brought some relief to the Republican Party. Turnout among Black voters, a group that typically leans Democratic, is trailing behind figures from four years ago. Nevertheless, some Democrats argue comparing early voting this year to 2020 is misguided due to Covid-19 disruptions. This cycle, GOP early voting appears stronger than in 2020, when Trump discouraged early ballots. Now, signs promoting early voting have been prominent at Trump’s rallies across North Carolina and other battleground states. Trump also announced his intention to vote early.
“He’s trying to put the nail in the coffin,” remarked Hal Weatherman, the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor and a veteran campaign strategist in North Carolina. “I've run 15 campaigns in North Carolina over a 27-year career. I can tell when a man is trying to drive a nail in the coffin.”
Trump’s rally on Tuesday followed three campaign stops the day before, emphasizing North Carolina’s significance to his campaign, especially given his previous successes in the state.
Current polling averages show a tight race, with Trump enjoying a slender lead over Harris, who is working to appeal to suburban, college-educated voters, as well as voters of color.
The early voting metrics have emerged as encouraging news for Republicans. An anonymous prominent Republican predicted that Trump could shift his focus elsewhere during the final weeks of the campaign as “the ground has shifted here in North Carolina.”
In response, a Harris campaign official, also speaking anonymously, claimed that “Trump is cherrypicking early vote data.” The official asserted that internal campaign data reveals that Trump “has consequential slippage with suburban women voters” compared to 2020. They also mentioned an increase in early voting turnout in Raleigh and Greensboro, which are critical for their electoral strategy.
During the rally, Trump derided Harris, facing criticism earlier in the day for allegedly invoking a racist stereotype by calling her “lazy as hell.” He stated, “How do you take a day off? Fourteen days... you don’t take a day off... I heard it today, and she's taking another day off tomorrow. What the hell?”
On Tuesday, Harris had conducted interviews with NBC and Telemundo after her events in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin on Monday. She has no public campaign events before her town hall with CNN on Wednesday evening.
“We now have five days of early voting data, and so what we're seeing is that Republicans are in a stronger position than they've ever been historically,” said Jason Simmons, chair of the North Carolina Republican Party.
Simmons noted that Republicans have “out voted, out performed” Democrats during two of those five early voting days. While Democrats had a 19 point advantage at this point in 2020, today they lead by just 1 point after five days of early voting.
“When you're looking at just the early voting data,” Simmons added, “it continues to show that Republicans are overperforming and Democrats are underperforming.”
This trend is alarming for Democrats. Thomas Mills, a North Carolina Democratic consultant, noted there are at least 67,000 fewer Black voters participating compared to the same period in 2020, labeling this as “a huge deficit that Democrats should be scrambling to address.” He urged increased investment in mobilizing Black voters.
Crystal Clark, 59, of Burlington, sported a T-shirt reading, “Yes I’m a Black Trump girl. Get over it,” and expressed her support for Trump based on economic issues. “What you're going to do for my 401K that's, like, slumped out? What are you going to do for the cost of all the food that we got going on right now, gas prices, that sort of thing?” she asked.
In just two days, Trump participated in four campaign events, including visits to assess hurricane damage, a rally in Greenville, and a meeting with faith leaders in Concord, highlighting his campaign's concern about vulnerabilities in the state. According to AdImpact, since Labor Day, North Carolina ranks second in the amount spent on advertising by the Trump campaign, which has nearly matched the $34 million that Harris has expended on ads.
Despite previous support for Mark Robinson, the state’s Republican nominee for governor, Trump has distanced himself since allegations surfaced that Robinson made inappropriate comments on online forums. Robinson has denied these accusations but was absent from the rally despite it being held in his hometown.
When questioned by PMG earlier about whether North Carolina voters should support Robinson, Trump did not take a stance, stating he is “not familiar” with the situation, adding, “I haven't seen it.”
Weatherman downplayed concerns about Trump’s strategy, dismissing the scandal as “crap you guys dig up.” He affirmed, “Mark’s my running mate, and I'm proud to run with him.”
Key questions remain regarding how much the early GOP vote will influence the party's performance on Election Day and the overall impact of Hurricane Helene on voter turnout. Counties affected by the storm have shown varied early voting results compared to 2020.
Clark mentioned that some of her relatives, lifelong Democrats, are backing Harris, saying, “they’re just going to stick with it, whether it’s good or not.”
“Some people don't like the personality,” she noted regarding Trump. “We don't have to marry the man, just, you know, he's our president and he needs to protect America. And I do not see the Democrats doing that at all.”
Ian Smith for TROIB News
At a rally on Tuesday night, Trump proclaimed that Harris was “cratering in the polls,” asserting that she was “sleeping” due to a lack of scheduled public campaign events.
While polls indicate a close race in North Carolina and Trump often inflates his numbers in public surveys, recent early voting data has brought some relief to the Republican Party. Turnout among Black voters, a group that typically leans Democratic, is trailing behind figures from four years ago. Nevertheless, some Democrats argue comparing early voting this year to 2020 is misguided due to Covid-19 disruptions. This cycle, GOP early voting appears stronger than in 2020, when Trump discouraged early ballots. Now, signs promoting early voting have been prominent at Trump’s rallies across North Carolina and other battleground states. Trump also announced his intention to vote early.
“He’s trying to put the nail in the coffin,” remarked Hal Weatherman, the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor and a veteran campaign strategist in North Carolina. “I've run 15 campaigns in North Carolina over a 27-year career. I can tell when a man is trying to drive a nail in the coffin.”
Trump’s rally on Tuesday followed three campaign stops the day before, emphasizing North Carolina’s significance to his campaign, especially given his previous successes in the state.
Current polling averages show a tight race, with Trump enjoying a slender lead over Harris, who is working to appeal to suburban, college-educated voters, as well as voters of color.
The early voting metrics have emerged as encouraging news for Republicans. An anonymous prominent Republican predicted that Trump could shift his focus elsewhere during the final weeks of the campaign as “the ground has shifted here in North Carolina.”
In response, a Harris campaign official, also speaking anonymously, claimed that “Trump is cherrypicking early vote data.” The official asserted that internal campaign data reveals that Trump “has consequential slippage with suburban women voters” compared to 2020. They also mentioned an increase in early voting turnout in Raleigh and Greensboro, which are critical for their electoral strategy.
During the rally, Trump derided Harris, facing criticism earlier in the day for allegedly invoking a racist stereotype by calling her “lazy as hell.” He stated, “How do you take a day off? Fourteen days... you don’t take a day off... I heard it today, and she's taking another day off tomorrow. What the hell?”
On Tuesday, Harris had conducted interviews with NBC and Telemundo after her events in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin on Monday. She has no public campaign events before her town hall with CNN on Wednesday evening.
“We now have five days of early voting data, and so what we're seeing is that Republicans are in a stronger position than they've ever been historically,” said Jason Simmons, chair of the North Carolina Republican Party.
Simmons noted that Republicans have “out voted, out performed” Democrats during two of those five early voting days. While Democrats had a 19 point advantage at this point in 2020, today they lead by just 1 point after five days of early voting.
“When you're looking at just the early voting data,” Simmons added, “it continues to show that Republicans are overperforming and Democrats are underperforming.”
This trend is alarming for Democrats. Thomas Mills, a North Carolina Democratic consultant, noted there are at least 67,000 fewer Black voters participating compared to the same period in 2020, labeling this as “a huge deficit that Democrats should be scrambling to address.” He urged increased investment in mobilizing Black voters.
Crystal Clark, 59, of Burlington, sported a T-shirt reading, “Yes I’m a Black Trump girl. Get over it,” and expressed her support for Trump based on economic issues. “What you're going to do for my 401K that's, like, slumped out? What are you going to do for the cost of all the food that we got going on right now, gas prices, that sort of thing?” she asked.
In just two days, Trump participated in four campaign events, including visits to assess hurricane damage, a rally in Greenville, and a meeting with faith leaders in Concord, highlighting his campaign's concern about vulnerabilities in the state. According to AdImpact, since Labor Day, North Carolina ranks second in the amount spent on advertising by the Trump campaign, which has nearly matched the $34 million that Harris has expended on ads.
Despite previous support for Mark Robinson, the state’s Republican nominee for governor, Trump has distanced himself since allegations surfaced that Robinson made inappropriate comments on online forums. Robinson has denied these accusations but was absent from the rally despite it being held in his hometown.
When questioned by PMG earlier about whether North Carolina voters should support Robinson, Trump did not take a stance, stating he is “not familiar” with the situation, adding, “I haven't seen it.”
Weatherman downplayed concerns about Trump’s strategy, dismissing the scandal as “crap you guys dig up.” He affirmed, “Mark’s my running mate, and I'm proud to run with him.”
Key questions remain regarding how much the early GOP vote will influence the party's performance on Election Day and the overall impact of Hurricane Helene on voter turnout. Counties affected by the storm have shown varied early voting results compared to 2020.
Clark mentioned that some of her relatives, lifelong Democrats, are backing Harris, saying, “they’re just going to stick with it, whether it’s good or not.”
“Some people don't like the personality,” she noted regarding Trump. “We don't have to marry the man, just, you know, he's our president and he needs to protect America. And I do not see the Democrats doing that at all.”
Ian Smith for TROIB News
