and veteran political reporter
Rick Albin from Old Wood in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It's great to have you guys
with us from our next hour. Family First,
I wanted to ask you, what are you seeing
on the ground in your states? What's the dynamic? What's the state of play on this Labor Day
as we hit this final stretch? Rick, I'll start with you. We have been inundated with candidate visits
and I mean almost daily. If you take a look at last week, president former President Trump
was in the state twice. J.D. Vance was here once. Doug Emhoff, the husband of the vice
president, was here for a visit. We are seeing a lot of attention here,
and that's going to continue with Vice President Harris
in town on this Labor Day. And then coming
up, President Biden is going to be in the state
on Friday, we believe. So These campaigns are taking
Michigan very seriously. And Ross, what's the situation
in North Carolina? Yeah, I mean, you're definitely
seeing a lot more energy. I sort of put it like this. The Democrats
suddenly are catching up with the excitement
that the Republicans have had for a long time
in North Carolina. They see an end to the end of the road here
that could go in their way. But it's going to be tough. I mean, you got to remember, you were talking about Barack
Obama. He won North Carolina in 2008. That's the lasast time
the Democrats won this state. And before that, it was
Jimmy Carter back in 1976. But I know they're spending
a lot of money here. You talk to sales
folks at local TV stations. Their budgets for August
were blown out of the water, far exceeded expectations. All you have to do
is turn on your television. You know,
the last thing you want to be is a local, you know, car car dealer
who's trying to get on the air. It's hard to get here on time
whatsoever. ah, completely. Your mailbox is full
of all these sorts of fliers that are coming out your doors
full, and there's certainly canvasing
and going around. All right. Let me ask
you about the substance and what voters
are actually concerned about. And, Russell,
I'll start with you. What do you see
as the key issues for voters
there in North Carolina? Yeah, the
economy is by far number one. And, you know,
you alluded to that Hill next Star poll
that we recently had in the top three issues
in North Carolina. Number one, again, the economy than health care,
than education. It's interesting
that immigration was all the way down
to number five, and that's actually very,
very consistent to what we've seen all year,
not only from our polling, but pretty much every poll
that's been out there that immigration is not really
at the top of the list. But when you watch the ads
as far as GOP ads are concerned, that's what we see
a whole lot of. So it's interesting that the
messaging is focusing on that when they're trying
to get some of these folks who still may be on the fence
or to motivate these folks who typically don't go out
to vote or weren't planning to vote
or might be leaning one way or the other. And in Michigan,
is it the same situation? I'm fascinated to learn that immigration
is sort of sinking down the list of priorities. What are voters
they're concerned about? Well, the economy
is the overriding concern. I mean, that is still a major issue in a state
that has seen its share of economic roller coasters. And it is the everyday costs
of things that you hear so much about when you're out
and talking with people. And I think that
that is something that the Harris team
has tried to address. But the Trump team continues
to hammer away on that. I think immigration
is still a concern, but it's a concern
to a certain group of people. And those people
have probably already decided what they're going to do
in terms of voting very largely. And let me just very
quickly, Ross, come back to you. So these tightening polls,
do you attribute that to this enthusiasm gap
that's being closed or do you interpret
that as sort of a the appeal that Donald Trump
is having over the past two cycles
on voters is sort of fading? Or to
what would you attribute that? I think
it's a combination of both. I think that, you know,
you would we are always considered
a purple state, mainly because a Republican
typically wins this state in the presidential race
and a Democrat typically wins at the same time
in a gubernatorial race. So that's
why we're considered purple. But now we're seeing more
enthusiasm and hope from Democrats that Harris can actually bring
this across the finish line. And they feel like they're hearing the same old story
from Donald Trump. I mean, that's at least
what I'm hearing from voters. I want you to the other
big issues. One of the other things
that we've got to watch is for the first time
ever, for the voters under 45 are a plurality
in North Carolina. That's the first time
that's happened. So their biggest challenge is,
of course, going to be turnout. Are these people going
to show up?