In a survey of likely voters, the poll found the race tighter than ever with Harris on the ballot. Former President Donald Trump still maintains a narrow lead over Vice President Kamala Harris, 47.1% to 44.1% (within the margin of error of ±3.99%).
Since the last Carolina Journal poll in May, Trump grew his support by 4.6 points, while Harris improved on Biden’s numbers by 6 points. Meanwhile, independent Robert Kennedy Jr. lost a lot of his support, and is down to just 3.6%.
So who is supporting which candidate?
Rural vs. Suburban Voters
Trump is leading in rural areas (59%)
Harris leads in suburban and urban areas (55% and 53%, respectively)
Male vs. Female Voters
Trump leads every age group of men
And Harris leads women (with the exception of 50 - 64 year old women)
Self-described “moderate” voters are more likely to vote for Harris than Trump (63% vs. 27%, respectively)
But what do voters care about the most?
Prices/Inflation remains the top issue, according to 50.2% of voters
In second place, immigration (32.9%)
And not far behind are:
Jobs/economy (32.4%)
Abortion (23.3%)
Taxes/Spending (17.4%)
Energy/environment (10.4%)
Public Safety/Crime (9%)
In the gubernatorial race, the poll also found Democrat Josh Stein ahead of Republican Mark Robinson by 4.4 points (42.6% to 38.2%).
Voters' top concern is the economy, their jobs, and being able to pay their mortgage and put food on the table for their families.
But, what’s often overlooked, is that the foundation of a strong economy is safe communities.
Without intensive policing, the cycle of poverty begins to spin:
When police pull back from communities, crime increases and public order begins to deteriorate
Increasing crime leads to increasing costs for businesses, which force businesses to close and lenders/investors to stay away
As business investment in a community decreases, unemployment increases, and the rate of family formation declines
The number of unemployed, anti-social and disaffected youths increases, leading to more crime, and the vicious cycle repeats all over again
This is why community policing is so important: because safe communities lead to more investment, more stable, well-paying jobs, and a better economic situation for everyone.
If you’re interested in learning more about the importance of public safety to our economy, you can read more here and here.
You can also register for our upcoming quarterly conference call, happening on Wednesday, August 28th from 6-7 pm, HERE.
Let’s start at the beginning… a collusive settlement is: “when two parties are not in actual conflict”
So… when people engage in a collusive settlement that means the plaintiff (the person who instigated the suit) is “settling” in a way that the recipient of the lawsuit wants?
Correct…
If no one gets hurt, what’s the problem?
The reality is there are harms done
By doing this, two individuals are able to rewrite laws (through their settlement and its ratification) in a way that fits their needs… without a democratically elected legislature passing a new law
This isn’t just theoretical; in 2020 a collusive lawsuit actually altered election law.
In 2020, SBE Executive Director Karen Brinson Bell couldn’t change our election laws the way she wanted
So, Democratic attorney Marc Elias filed a lawsuit against the SBE in Wake County Superior Court in September to extend the deadline to accept ballots postmarked by election day and weaken the witness requirement to the point that it was functionally eliminated
And then Bell and the SBE settled the program
Despite a recent, almost total victory in a similar lawsuit, the SBE board voted to “settle this and several other outstanding lawsuits on the state election rules.”
So now, without the law being voted on, Brinson Bell got her voting changes
Is there anything we can do about it?
Yes! The 2021 budget (passed into law) included a provision that required that the Speaker of the House and the Senate President Pro-Tempore must jointly agree to any settlement! So going forward, shenanigans (like Brinson’s at the SBE) shouldn't be able to happen
After a HIGHLY contentious two-year review process, the Biden Administration’s rules took effect on Aug. 1 in thousands of school districts across America
The rules claim to expand protections for LGBTQ+ students, pregnant students, and postpartum students
They oppose the regulations because the new rules on sex discrimination include gender identity, which opponents of the regulations believe violates the spirit (and language) of Title IX (see here and here)
But people didn’t take this lying down.
In fact, 26 states have challenged these changes… and unfortunately, there hasn’t been a cohesive answer
The Supreme Court did not intervene before August 1st as some had hoped they would
Unfortunately, NC was not able to successfully challenge these rules.
But there’s still hope!
In early July a federal court in KS issued an opinion that temporarily halted the Biden Administration's new regulations
This new suit argues that:
“the new rules eliminate the protections long afforded girls in private spaces and locker rooms and violate First Amendment rights by forcing students to affirm views of gender fluidity and transgenderism that violate personal beliefs and the tenets of science.”
