SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
And I'm Scott Detrow in the Ferris wheel at the North Carolina State Fair in Raleigh. And the Ferris wheel looms over this fair kind of the same way that the presidential election looms over North Carolina. Millions and millions of dollars are being spent to woo voters here. It's one of a handful of swing states that could decide who the next president is going to be. And with just a few weeks to go, the polls in this state are dead even.
(SOUNDBITE OF SLIDE WHISTLE)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Anybody else want to play over here, huh? Want to play?
DETROW: Amid familiar state fair staples, like carnival games and bacon-covered fried treats, there are also plenty of signs of this tight, intense election. Among the airbrushed T-shirt offerings, that famous picture of former President Donald Trump pumping his fist in the air after the summer's assassination attempt, with the caption, you missed. A beef jerky stand makes its tip jar a straw poll - two cups, one with a picture of Vice President Kamala Harris, the other of Trump. Trump has $12 in it, and Harris zero.
North Carolina hasn't broken Democrat for President since 2008, but Trump's win here in 2020 was by less than a point. In the center of the state fair's Expo Hall, the election becomes a bit more front and center. It's a political alley of sorts with booths manned by both state parties, among other groups. Fairgoers Rahmad (ph) and Deja Boston (ph) stop at the Democratic booth along with their 6-month-old daughter Kinsley (ph). They're voting for Harris and other Democrats. Still, they're pretty exhausted by the race at this point.
How many ads do you come across on a daily basis?
DEJA BOSTON: Too many - a thousand.
RAHMAD BOSTON: Yeah.
D BOSTON: Yeah.
R BOSTON: I get to the point where I say, I'm...
D BOSTON: Text messages.
R BOSTON: ...Ready for the elections to be over (laughter).
DETROW: I'm just curious, like, what sticks in your head?
D BOSTON: Mark Robinson - it's not your body anymore.
DETROW: The Republican gubernatorial candidate is a constant presence in North Carolina ads, less from his campaign and more so from just about every ad attacking other GOP candidates.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Who's worse than Mark Robinson? His choice for lieutenant governor, Hal Weatherman.
DETROW: Many Republicans have distanced themselves from Robinson, especially in the weeks since CNN published reports that tie him to controversial comments on a pornography website, which the Robinson campaign denies he made. At the State Fair, voter Faye Nu (ph) is sticking with him.
FAYE NU: He's very vocal. He's very opinionated, but they have taken some of the things that he's said out of context. They just see one line and say, oh, that sounds nasty. Let's put it in there.
DETROW: Nu's husband is in the North Carolina chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, and she's sitting in a high-top chair in front of the group's booth. She's wearing a pink Women for Robinson cap, and...
...Can you describe your shirt for radio people who can't see it?
NU: Oh, it says, I'm voting for the convicted felon.
DETROW: Nu says, for her, like for many Republicans, this race is all about the economy. She says it was just better when Trump was in office.
NU: At the time, I was a small business owner, and it was the first time that my taxes were reasonable. It was wonderful.
DETROW: Nu exudes confidence when you talk to her. But this presidential race in North Carolina has her a little worried.
NU: Well, it's tighter than I'd like it, but you never know till it's all said and done.
DETROW: Like in many other states, abortion rights are top of mind in North Carolina. A 12-week abortion ban went into effect here last year. Ads about it are everywhere.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: As women, we should be in charge of our own reproductive healthcare, but our rights are at risk.
DETROW: At the State Fair, there's also a strong appeal from anti-abortion rights advocates, like Dr. Bill Pincus, who's manning the North Carolina Right to Life booth.
BILL PINCUS: That's a new human being. It's not the mother. It's not the father. It's a human life.
DETROW: He's been president of the group for about five years.
What do you make of the way that former President Trump has been campaigning on the abortion issue this election?
PINCUS: So I think he disappointed a lot of pro-lifers, but if you look at what he did and not what he says, he appointed constitutionalist judges that then said, look, Roe v. Wade was wrongly decided, and it should be a states issue. Now, our goal is to make abortion unthinkable even if it's legal, and that's through education.
DETROW: Around the corner, in another aisle of the Expo Hall, we encounter another point of view, Harris supporters Debbie (ph) and Lou Love (ph), who say they're voting on policy and personality.
LOU LOVE: Character, integrity, not lying.
DEBBIE LOVE: Decency.
L LOVE: Not cheating.
D LOVE: Respect - I mean, what would Jesus be saying if he was up there? Don't make me start crying. But the abortion thing - it tears my heart out of my chest because if a 12-year-old, 13-year-old, 16-year-olds - if they're impregnated, even if somebody's 20, 30, 40 - I need to have the right to decide.
DETROW: The Loves are both wearing homemade Harris hats, a blue comma - as in punctuation - and a red cursive la. Debbie Love wavers between hopeful and anxious.
D LOVE: My guts are churning sometimes at 2:00 a.m., and I can't get off my mind. And I just - I pray about it. Yeah.
L LOVE: If we can carry North Carolina, we'll be good shape.
DETROW: There are voters like the Loves all-in on Harris. There are also many voters like the Bostons - people who have specific views about the race that are also a little jaded by it all. I asked Deja Boston the same question I asked Faye Nu - what, to her, is this election all about?
D BOSTON: Fairness - you know, fairness, to me. You know, I was hearing about that Trump is going to give police full immunity.
R BOSTON: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
D BOSTON: Why would they need full immunity? I mean, honestly, to be honest with you, it's just historical for me as a Black woman. It's very historical.
DETROW: The North Carolina State Fair runs through Sunday. North Carolina early voting runs into the weekend after that. So far, more than 1.7 million North Carolina voters have cast ballots. And we will have more reporting from this key swing state later this week as our series, We, The Voters, continues. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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