The fatal flaw I saw in the first 45 minutes (my limit) of Trump’s State of the Union is that most North Carolinians don’t believe they’re living in a “Golden Age.”

Yes, it’s a Golden Age for Trump, his family, the billionaires and the big corporations.

Their profits are up, their taxes are down and their stock portfolios are soaring.

But, in our recent poll, most North Carolina voters see dark clouds, not bright skies:

• By 62-30%, they’re “not satisfied with the direction things are going in America today.”
• They’re not happy with economic conditions: 59% say they’re “falling behind the cost of living,” and only 31% said they’re “staying about even with the cost of living.”
• 76% said inflation and rising costs are stressful now.

And here’s what I found most startling in the poll.

We asked (Q7), “When today’s children in North Carolina grow up, do you think they will be better off than people are today, worse off than people are today, or about the same as people are today?”

A majority, 56%, said worse off; 19% said about the same and 15% weren’t sure.

Only one respondent in 10, just 10%, thought today’s children would be better off.

As I wrote yesterday, Trump’s problem is that – in this most swingy of swing states – voters see him as “focused primarily on himself” rather than “people like you” (56-38%) and as “a fighter for big corporations” rather than for working people (55-38%).

It may be a Golden Age at Mar-a-Lago.

But not for most North Carolinians.

That’s the hole Trump has dug for himself and Republican candidates this year.

Last night, he dug it even deeper.