let's use the touchcreen to talk about the 2024 election as well as North Carolina's role for years we've been very important a Battleground state but as of a few months ago it kind of sounded like we were losing relevancy until recently and apparently North Carolina is back in a big way also I'm not that great at the touch screen so let's send it over to someone who is here's NBC's Steve karaki all right the polls are tight both campaigns are spending heavily in North Carolina you probably see the ads it is a Battleground State and this is one that Trump won in 2020 as you see here over Joe Biden and it's one that Democrats think they can flip and if Democrats can flip North Carolina when you get to that road to 270 in the battle for the Electoral College that could be decisive for Democrats if they could ever take this state from the Republicans so why do Democrats think they have a chance here well the simple answer is you're talking about the suburbs cities metropolitan areas you know the triangle the Triad Metrolina out west where Asheville is these are places you see they blue on here they're big they've got lots of suburbs suburbs we see this in North Carolina we see it nationally they've been getting more and more democratic since Donald Trump came along and the populations are growing in these areas so what Democrats think is hey they were this close four years ago I think four more years of population growth and four more years of these areas getting Bluer because that's the other thing that's been happening they've been more and more democratic election to election Democrats think that could wipe out what was just a 75,000 vote margin for Donald Trump in 2020 but that's not the only thing that's going on here why was Trump ultimately able to win and why do Republicans think they can hang on to North Carolina well I mean it's all of the Reds you see on here now a lot of these counties are smaller counties many of them are very small rural counties but just as Democrats have been gaining strength in these Metro areas Republicans under Trump have been gaining strength in small rural areas we've got counties on this map where the margin for Republicans has gone from say 25 points in their favor a little bit more than a decade ago where Trump's now winning them by more than 50 so it's two competing forces here and which one is going to produce more votes The Surge for Trump in the rural parts of North Carolina or The Surge for Democrats in the Metropolitan parts of North Carolina two very different for could determine maybe the presidency