Trump to hold town hall in Fayetteville, as latest polls show race is tied in NC
Former President Donald Trump is maintaining a busy campaign schedule in North Carolina, returning to the state in what will be his third visit in two weeks.
Trump will travel to Fayetteville on Friday to hold a town hall with voters and supporters, during which, the Trump campaign said in a news release, he’ll “take questions directly from voters, listen to their concerns, and share why his policies will put the working men and women of North Carolina first.”
The town hall will mark Trump’s seventh visit to North Carolina since Vice President Kamala Harris ascended to the top of the Democratic ticket and started her campaign.
Polls have shown an increasingly close race between Trump and Harris in North Carolina, which last voted for a Democratic nominee for president in 2008, when former President Barack Obama won the state.
Averages of several recent polls maintained by 538 and RealClearPolitics show Trump leading Harris in the state by 0.4 and 1.4 percentage points, respectively, both of which are well within the margins of error of most polls.
A new CNN poll of likely voters in North Carolina, conducted earlier in the week, showed the race tied, with both candidates getting 48%. Another poll released by Bloomberg and Morning Consult on Friday showed Harris leading by 2 percentage points among likely voters.
Trump won North Carolina in 2016 and 2020, but by only 1.3 percentage points the second time. His regular visits to the battleground state, a likely must-win state for him, underscore how seriously the Trump campaign has taken the state, as Harris attempts to put it back in the Democratic column.
Trump on Robinson: ‘I don’t know the situation’
In a statement on Saturday, the Harris campaign criticized Trump’s economic agenda and said his visits to the state have only reminded voters that he’s “too extreme for North Carolina.”
“It’s time to turn the page on Trump’s extremism and elect Vice President Harris to lower costs for North Carolinians, protect our fundamental freedoms, and keep our communities safe,” said Michael Zhadanovsky, director of rapid response for the North Carolina Democratic Coordinated Campaign.
Trump addressed supporters in Charlotte on Wednesday, and held a rally with supporters in Wilmington a week ago. Harris was last in the state on Sept. 12, when she held back-to-back rallies in Charlotte and Greensboro.
On both occasions, Trump avoided mentioning Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, the Republican nominee for governor whose campaign was rocked by scandal after CNN reported that he allegedly made a number of lewd and racist comments on a pornography website several years ago.
Trump had previously endorsed Robinson and embraced his candidacy, but has kept his distance since the CNN report broke on Sept. 19. The Harris campaign, meanwhile, has sought to capitalize on Trump’s support for Robinson with a campaign ad it launched the next day.
When he was asked by a reporter on Thursday if he would pull his endorsement of Robinson, Trump said, “I don’t know the situation.”
Robinson has had to effectively rebuild his campaign during the fallout over the CNN report, with nearly all of his campaign staff resigning, and half of his staff in the lieutenant governor’s office also quitting.
The town hall with Trump will take place on Friday, Oct. 4, at 7 p.m. at the Crown Complex in Fayetteville. Tickets can be found on his campaign website.
This story was originally published September 28, 2024 at 8:08 PM with the headline "Trump to hold town hall in Fayetteville, as latest polls show race is tied in NC."
