The results are in for our latest American Thinker/Rasmussen Reports poll for North Carolina. The big news is that, since our last North Carolina poll, Trump has increased his lead from a three-point margin to a five-point margin. In other ways, though, the poll shows the same trend as our past polling: Voters are deeply distressed by the state of things in America and believe that Trump is the better candidate to address the problems.
So, let’s get to specifics.
Rasmussen Reports polled 1,042 Like Voters (“LVs”) in North Carolina—344 Democrats, 391 Republicans, and 307 Independents. That breakdown reflects both the state’s conservativism and independent thinking.
Image by AI.
The top takeaway from the poll is that Trump leads Harris by five points (51%-46%) in North Carolina, which represents strong growth from the three-point lead in the September 25 poll (50%-47%). Overall, when it comes to competency, North Carolina’s LVs give Trump a six-point advantage over Harris (50%-44%). Currently, momentum favors Trump.
To no one’s surprise, the gender gap exists in North Carolina as it does elsewhere. For each candidate, there’s an 11-point differential, with men favoring Trump by 11 points and women favoring Kamala by the same margin.
Across age lines, older voters (ages 50 and up) are Trump’s most enthusiastic supporters, with 55% of people aged 50-64 supporting Trump and 54% of people 65 and older doing the same.
At the opposite end of the age range, the young’uns (ages 18-29) are evenly split, at 49% for each candidate. People in the 40-49 age range are Kamala’s strongest supporters, at 51%, with her support diminishing sharply as people get older.
A majority of black voters still back Kamala (70%), but 26% will give their votes to Donald Trump. According to Thomas Sowell, in a presidential election, if a Republican gets 20% of black votes, Democrats are in trouble, and if he gets 30%, Democrats cannot win. Trump is closing in.
North Carolinian priorities are still focused on the economy (33%), the border (17%), and abortion (12%). And, as in September, when asked which issue the incoming president should address first, illegal immigration is in the top spot (29%), with rising prices (24%) and “protecting our democracy” (23%) following behind.
As a general matter, North Carolina’s LVs aren’t happy. By an almost 3-1 margin (70%-24%), they think that the way the federal government does business needs a major overhaul. Fifty-two percent say they’re not better off than they were four years ago, with only 41% saying they are doing better, while 50% view their children’s future with gloom, compared to 26% who think their children have a better future. Thirty-four percent trust the federal government; 52% do not.
Unsurprisingly, 88% of North Carolina’s LVs have been watching the government’s rescue efforts in their state. A majority (55%-41%) strongly or somewhat approve of what FEMA has been doing. Where they want change is at the congressional level, with 80% feeling that Americans affected by disasters should have priority when it comes to federal funding and only 12% believing the illegal aliens should have priority.
Regarding how well our democracy is doing, LVs in North Carolina are worried. Seventy-two percent of them are very or somewhat concerned that cheating will affect the election, and 59% would like to see votes counted on election day. They also distrust the Democrat party—27% distrust it—significantly more than either China (19%) or the Republican party (16%). Forty-nine percent of LVs in North Carolina also believe we’re heading for a civil war, with only 36% thinking that’s unlikely.
Rasmussen Reports, to its credit, polls conservatively without trying to game one party over the other. These aren’t push polls. Instead, they strive for accurate results showing what American voters are thinking about substantive issues.
This poll indicates that, despite the media’s best efforts to sugarcoat the Harris-Biden administration and Harris herself, American voters don’t like what’s happening in America. It’s no wonder that growing numbers of Americans believe that Trump can be trusted to make things better.
(You can read more at Rasmussen Reports.)