Rural North Carolina is unfriendly territory for Democrats, but we can gain ground there – and that will help us statewide.

That’s my takeaway from a recent poll of 684 voters in 46 rural counties.

By 63-27%, those voters had an unfavorable view of the party:

• When they hear “Democratic Party” they think about Democrats in DC or other parts of the country.
• They think we’re “out-of-touch, disorganized, and weak.” Some say “woke” as well.
• They say we don’t focus enough on what they care most about: the cost of living, the cost of healthcare, the cost of buying a house, affording retirement, keeping a job and raising their kids.

Democrats can fix some of those problems. We can show up in small towns and rural areas – and show we care about them and their problems. We can get stronger and better organized.

We can’t fix some problems. When the Democratic Party stood up for civil rights in the 1960s – and then for women’s rights and LGBTQ+ rights – it lost many rural white Southerners.

Many of these voters fear that their communities and way of life are threatened by change – and “the other.”

Immigration is the biggest reason Donald Trump beat Kamala Harris in these 46 counties by 58-37%. Also, “transgender men playing women’s sports” came up a lot.

Yet, there’s hope.

While 64% of these voters didn’t see any difference between Democratic elected officials in North Carolina and those in Washington, 30% did see differences.

They said Democrats here, like Governor Josh Stein, are “closer to the real-world needs of NC citizens,” “more moderate” and stronger – “NC Dems seem to have some fight in them.”

It helps to show up and be seen.

Generating more enthusiasm among Democrats themselves would help. Only 73% of them gave the party a favorable rating, while 93% of Republicans were favorable to their party.

These counties were 31% of the statewide vote in 2024. If Harris had cut Trump’s margin here from 58-37 to 55-40, she would have gained nearly 2 points statewide. Trump won North Carolina by just 3.3%.

Plus, if we show up and show we care in rural counties, we’ll show voters across the state that we’ll stand up for everybody, not just a few people and a few groups in a few big cities.

We’ll show we’re the party of the people – not the party of the billionaires.

That’s the road to victory.

The poll, commissioned by a private client, was conducted August 24-28 by Stephen Clermont with Change Research in Washington. Stephen has been polling in North Carolina for 30 years. Tucker Middleton, a Raleigh-based media consultant, worked with us. We didn’t ask horserace questions – or about the headlines of the day. We asked open-ended questions to hear voters’ deeper concerns and attitudes, in their words. I’ll write more about the poll later.