People in NC are social conservatives. However GOP support of NAFTA, MFN, WTO has destroyed the economies of many textile and light manufacturing towns. Hard to be supporter of pro business policies of the GOP when you are out of a job. Wall Street diseaster is perceived as another experiment gone wrong in GOP trust in businessmen can do no harm. Small town economies were the first victims of Wall Street, now the rest of the country is getting what these small towns have suffered, economic policies that cause widespread economic dislocation on Main Street is no longer funny. Political policies based on too macro economics and too little on micro economics considerations is a recipe to lose elections. The only thing saving the GOP narrowly in NC is the fear of OB. If the Dems nominated HRC, McCain would be toast in NC. Hopefully the GOP will dodge the bullet and spend the next 24 months after Jan 2009 re calibrating some of their economic ideologies and total trust in businessmen.
Please. North Carolina just like every other southern states has added plenty of jobs under Bush.
Charlotte is the 2nd largest banking city in the nation which has benefitted from free trade (less so now with the financial crisis).
The Research triangle has been growing for decades and is centered mainly on information and biotechnology industries which are global in nature.
Free trade as a whole have helped states with low regulation and low taxes which is why the south is still such a solidly republican block.
The only reason NC is competitive is probably because of Charlotte which is heavily invested in the financial sector.
These numbers overall though reflect national polls about who is getting the blame for this financial crisis. Katie “the retard” Couric bought into Democratic talking points by saying that this crisis is caused by financial deregulation while Sarah Palin just smiled and repeated talking points.
Republicans need smarter frontmen.
Agree with you 100%.