WILMINGTON, N.C. — If Donald Trump wishes to win North Carolina, he’ll need to win voters like Mike Mowatt.
In many ways, Mowatt is the prototype swing voter in this swing state: He’s retired, and North Carolina will have more 65-and-up voters this cycle . He cares deeply about the economy, as North Carolinians do, more than any . He’s not particularly excited by Kamala Harris, even though he voted for the Democratic nominee in both 2016 and 2020.
He is, as he told me shortly before Trump’s Saturday rally, “Trump-curious.” The Trump-curious are a shrinking group. In this, Trump’s third run for the presidency in as many cycles, only a fraction of voters remain uncertain.
At , 22% of voters were still up for grabs; now, that figure is down to or percent. In North Carolina, that group could be as big as , higher than any other battleground state. That’s a fraction of the total electorate, but with national polling showing , a fraction will decide the next president.
Trump’s purpose Saturday was to engage that fraction. That’s why Mowatt showed up Saturday, standing in sweltering heat on a tarmac at Wilmington International, waiting for Trump’s arrival. He dressed inconspicuously: a dark t-shirt and unmarked ball cap, amid a sea of red hats and Trump-themed merch.
Kamala Harris is in a “tough situation,” he told me, trying to define herself this close to Election Day. “A hurdle she has to overcome is being associated with the Biden administration for.