A poll of likely voters out Monday from East Carolina University was in the field Aug. 26-28, and shows Trump leading Harris 48% to 47%, with 3% undecided and 2% planning to support an independent or third party candidate. The results are within the poll’s +/- 3% margin of error.
Trump campaigned in Asheville recently, centering his comments around the economy and inflation, which, according to the ECU poll, are top concerns for more than half of respondents.
“We are going to stop the inflation that has caused misery and mayhem under Kamala and Joe and unleash economic abundance for Americans of every race, religion, color, and creed so that everyone can afford groceries a car and a home,” Trump said the event. “We will stop the invasion and the migrant crime. We will save Medicare and save Social Security, build a missile shield, and get critical race theory and transgender insanity out of our school and get men out of women’s sports.”
Trump also promised to end taxes on Social Security, calling it a “cruel double-taxation,” and promised the largest deportation operation in history starting at noon on inauguration day.
Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz also recently visited North Carolina, in Raleigh last week for a private fundraising event with NC Gov. Roy Cooper. The campaign posted a video on TikTok of Walz and Cooper stopping at Cookout for milkshakes.
Of the poll’s respondents who said they planned to vote for Harris, a majority (66%) said her choice of Walz for a running mate made them more likely to voter for her. Of the respondents who said they would vote for Trump, a minority (49%) said his selection of JD Vance as a running mate had no impact on their vote.
The poll also showed North Carolina’s Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein, leading Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson by six points in the race for governor.
Voter confidence in November’s results remains low, similar to 2022, after the midterm elections. At that time, High Point University found that 20% of voters had no confidence in the outcome reflecting the vote count. ECU found that public perception has not improved much, with 19% of respondents having “no confidence” in the 2024 election results.
“Based on that comparison, it seems fair to conclude that about 1 out of 5 North Carolina voters do not have confidence that the election results will accurately reflect the votes that are cast,” Dr. Peter Francia, Director of the ECU Center for Survey Research told Carolina Journal. “Of course, in a perfect world, we want all voters to have confidence in the integrity of our elections.”