NC’s diverse Robeson County now has GOP voting streak. What’s behind support for Trump?

Jimmy and Timmy Bullard, 32-year-old twins who grew up in the Robeson County town of Pembroke, were raised to believe they should always vote for Democrats.

Then came Donald Trump.

“My granddaddy was a Democrat. He goes to church, he’s a Christian,” Timmy Bullard said. “But when he saw what Trump did, that’s when he turned from Democrat to Republican.”

The way the Bullards see it, Trump secured the southern border, kept inflation in check and created jobs for hard-working Americans — popular talking points among Republicans.

The Border Belt Independent and The News & Observer interviewed about two dozen people in Robeson County about November’s presidential election. Robeson, home to about 117,000 residents in North Carolina’s southeastern corner, was once a Democratic stronghold. But the county has seen a major swing toward Republican candidates since President Barack Obama left office.

Four months ahead of the election rematch between Trump and President Joe Biden, many voters echoed the Bullards’ thoughts on immigration and the economy. Some said Trump is a man of faith who better aligns with their views on abortion and social issues, adding that Democrats no longer represent the ideals of the working class.

“The Democrats are not for us; all they want is our votes. They don’t want to change nothing,” Timmy Bullard said during Lumbee Homecoming on July 6, when thousands of tribal members visited Pembroke to celebrate their history and culture.

Rural America’s shift to the Republican Party over the past several years is complex and nuanced. That’s especially true in Robeson, one of the most diverse counties in the nation, where 39% of residents are American Indian, 23% are Black and 25% are white. The county, economically depressed since the loss of tobacco and manufacturing, has among the highest crime rates in North Carolina. Nearly 27% of residents live in poverty, more than twice the statewide figure.

Obama won Robeson County in 2008 and 2012. Four years later, Trump took the county and went on to secure 59% of the vote in 2020. Seizing a new opportunity, the Republican National Committee opened an office in 2022 in Pembroke, home to the Lumbee, whose 50,000 members make up the largest American Indian tribe east of the Mississippi River.

Political hopefuls attended the annual homecoming celebration, including gubernatorial candidates Josh Stein, a Democrat, and Mark Robinson, a Republican. The message was clear: Republicans want to keep the GOP momentum going in Robeson County, while Democrats want to take the county back.

It might be a lofty goal for Democrats, although 46% of voters in the county are registered Democrats. Unaffiliated voters outnumber Republican voters, too, accounting for 34% of the electorate.

Carvie Jones, 74, a gas station clerk in Rowland, has no doubt who will get his vote. He changed his party affiliation from Democrat to Republican in 2016 because he worried Democrats were “bringing communism here.”

“The problem is the government just gives, gives, gives,” Jones said. “But then there’s nothing left for the people who actually work.”

Jones said basic necessities are too expensive, a sentiment echoed by many voters.

“I just think things were better when he was in office,” Sharon Oxendine, 60, of Pembroke said of Trump. “Groceries are out of this world. Gas is out of this world. Everything’s going sky high but your paycheck.”

Inflation was up 19.9% during the first 41 months of the Biden administration, compared to 5.4% during the same time period of the Trump administration, in part due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, according to Forbes. The foreign war is also partly responsible for the spike in gas prices, the magazine said last month.

Employment is up 11%, and average pay is up 17% under Biden, according to Forbes.

Some voters said they questioned whether Biden was fit for office following his shaky debate performance last month. Although some donors and top Democrats have suggested he should bow out of the race, Biden has said he will continue.

A.J. Smith-Chukwu, a security guard who lives in Lumberton, said Biden and Trump are both too old to be president. Biden is 81, and Trump is 78.

“We’ve been dealing with these same two old guys for the past eight years,” Smith-Chukwu, 33, said. “Young people are out here just getting crushed under the current system and I feel like a lot of that is because we are two generations behind in who is leading us.”

Vonnie Lewis, 63, of Red Springs said she, too, is skeptical of both candidates. “Biden is too old,” she said, “but Trump is much too mouthy.”

Many of the conservative voters interviewed for this story spoke little of Trump’s conviction in late May on 34 felony counts related to hush money he paid to a porn star. In a nationwide poll by Politico and Ipsos in early June, 21% of independent voters said Trump’s conviction made them less likely to support him and that it would be an important factor in their vote.

Some voters across the political spectrum who were interviewed for this story had a common complaint about Trump: He doesn’t know when to shut up.

Caleb Patrick, an 18-year-old who lives in neighboring Columbus County, said Trump can sometimes “say too much when he might need to say nothing at all.” Trump still has his support, though.

Lewis agreed, adding that she will not vote for Trump. “That man does not know how to stay out of the news. He should really go down as the worst president we ever had.”

Jimmy and Timmy Bullard, who work as landscapers, think the opposite. To them, another presidential term held by a Democrat poses an existential threat to the nation.

“If we don’t take back America,” Jimmy Bullard said, “our country is doomed.”