ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. – President Trump will visit Rocky Mount, N.C., on Friday, capping off a week in which his administration has attempted to reassure Americans that the nation's economy is improving.
On Wednesday, the president gave a primetime address stating that the country's current economic woes are due to the policies of former Democratic President Joe Biden.
Earlier this month, Trump visited the swing state of Pennsylvania with a similar message blaming the previous administration for the challenges his administration is currently experiencing and saying that he is igniting an economic turnaround.
This week, a NPR/PBS News/Marist poll found that only 36% of voters approve of Trump's handling of the economy, the lowest mark since the poll started asking the question six years ago.
Other recent polls have shown that Trump is losing popularity with voters in North Carolina, a state he's won in three consecutive presidential elections.
A late November poll from High Point University found that about 60% of North Carolina voters surveyed disapprove of how Trump is addressing inflation, while 52% disapprove of his tariff policies.
Still, Trump is visiting a decidedly purple part of a decidedly purple state in a congressional district recently redrawn by state Republicans to boost their chances of maintaining control of Congress.
And many state residents who voted for Trump in 2024 believe his policies are moving the country in the right direction.
Ronnie Peede, an HVAC technician who was working in downtown Rocky Mount on Thursday, is among those who voted for Trump last year.
"He wants to get people back to work and get off of government help as much as possible," Peede said.
Peede also said while HVAC prices initially started rising after the Trump administration implemented tariffs, he thinks they have started to level off now and even drop in some cases.
Up the street from where Peede was working, Jonathan Sutton was tending to clients inside his barbershop on Thursday.
Sutton, a Democrat, said he has seen higher prices on some of the clippers and blades he orders from Europe and believes this is due to Trump's tariffs. But he doesn't necessarily blame the president for broader inflation.
"I think prices just go up, period. Since I've been alive, I don't remember a time when prices went down," Sutton said.
Sutton added that he thinks Trump is "insensitive" in how he talks to and about people, adding, "for a president, it's kind of rough."
Sutton referred to Trump's recent remarks about slain Hollywood director Rob Reiner and what Sutton considers xenophobic comments about Somali immigrants.
All eyes on North Carolina's 2026 midterm elections
Trump's visit to Rocky Mount will take place just hours after the state's filing period for the 2026 elections closes, with highly competitive races expected in both the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate.
North Carolina will be home to one of the country's most-anticipated U.S. Senate races next year. The race is one of the few happening in a swing state, with Democratic and Republican voter registrations almost evenly split here. North Carolina voters have also shown a willingness in recent elections to split their tickets.
Former two-term Gov. Roy Cooper is expected to secure the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate race. Both times Cooper was elected governor in 2016 and 2020, Trump was also on the ballot.
Amongst the GOP primary candidates so far in the U.S. Senate race, Trump has endorsed Michael Whatley, a former Republican National Committee chairman, but former U.S. Navy JAG officer Don Brown and one-time state superintendent candidate Michele Morrow are both trying to stake out positions to Whatley's right.
North Carolina became the first swing state to draw new congressional districts amid a nationwide arms race between Republicans and Democrats to secure additional seats ahead of next year's midterm elections.
Rocky Mount itself is the largest city in the state's 1st congressional district. State Republicans redrew that district and the neighboring 3rd congressional district in an effort to give House GOP candidates an advantage in both. Using results from the 2024 presidential election, Republicans swapped 10 counties between the 1st and 3rd districts to increase the proportion of voters with a history of casting their ballot for GOP candidates in the 1st district.
U.S. Rep. Don Davis, a moderate Democrat, won the seat twice in a row. Black Democrats have held the seat since 1992.
When Eva Clayton won the district in 1992, it marked the first time that North Carolina had elected a Black person to Congress since Reconstruction. In each election since, a Black Democrat has won the seat.
When voting rights groups challenged new maps in court earlier this year, they said the new district would dilute the influence of Black voters. But a panel of three federal judges ruled that the maps were intended to take power away from Democratic voters. Both North Carolina courts and the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in recent years that they will not overturn maps on the basis of partisan gerrymandering.
As of Thursday evening, four Republicans have filed to run in the 23-county district. Trump has not yet made an endorsement in the primary, even as several GOP candidates have touted their allegiance to the president.
Peede, the HVAC technician, says he's unaffiliated but typically votes in Republican primaries. If Trump endorses in the state's 1st congressional district primary, Peede said he would take it into consideration but also vet the candidates for himself.
"I still like to look at the candidates to see what they stand for," he said. "So it's not just because Trump said it. I mean, Trump's not perfect."
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