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Trump & Stein Approval, Whatley-Cooper Race, More

Carolina Journal Radio / Nick Craig
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September 19, 2025 6:23 am

Trump & Stein Approval, Whatley-Cooper Race, More

Carolina Journal Radio / Nick Craig

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September 19, 2025 6:23 am

North Carolina voters are concerned about the safety of public transit, with many feeling it's not secure due to a lack of checks and ticketing systems. The state is also grappling with the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, with Governor Josh Stein requesting $13.5 billion in federal aid for recovery efforts. Meanwhile, a new poll shows that 94.9% of North Carolinians are concerned about the rise of political violence, with 60% blaming elected officials and the media for its increase. The poll also found that 93.4% of voters believe it's never acceptable to use violence or assassination attempts against political leaders or public figures.

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It's 5.05 and welcome in to a Friday edition of the Carolina Journal News Hour, News Talk 1110-993 WBT. I'm Nick Craig. Good morning to you. We'd like to keep a pretty close eye on what is going on throughout the state of North Carolina. We'll continue that trend this morning.

We've got a brand new poll out at CarolinaJournal.com to walk us through some of those details this morning. It's my pleasure to welcome the editor-in-chief of CarolinaJournal.com, Donna King, to the news hour this morning. Donna, pretty much every political poll starts off with this top question. Are things heading in the right direction, the wrong direction for the country? What do North Carolina voters think about the first eight or nine months or so of the Trump administration?

Sure, we're actually seeing an increase in this poll, which was out the 14th and 15th of September.

So it's a pretty new poll. The biggest one that I'm seeing is 53.7% of people are saying that the country is going off on the wrong track. You know, that's an increase up from our August, our August poll.

So just in the last month. But it's important, I think, to note that because this was out in the field the 14th and 15th, that was just after we saw the assassin. assassination of Charlie Kirk and the crime in and the murder on the light rail in Charlotte.

So folks are really feeling a little bit rattled by what we were seeing in the news.

So I think that that accounts for some of that spike. But generally, you know, we're seeing folks who are among Republicans were much more likely to say we're headed in the right direction. Democrats were more likely to say we were off on the wrong track. Independents, which actually is leaning a little bit more conservative throughout this poll in all the different questions, was saying right direction was about about 38% and we're on track was about 57%. Yeah, definitely some interesting numbers there.

And we then kind of parlayed that, followed it up with, okay, maybe things aren't heading in the right direction for you. What are some of those issues? It's no surprise, Donna, it's the economy stupid. I mean, it's always a top issue in political polling, and we're seeing that in this most recent poll as well. Absolutely.

So, one of the things that we really talked about was what issues are you really going to be talking about going into the North Carolina's U.S. Senate race?

So, this is something that we still have a year to go, haven't even gone through the primaries yet, but it really does tell us where people are. And we were seeing that the economy and inflation, cost of living, Is still the very top of the pile for people as they are starting to think about how they might vote in 2026. If you combine that with the economy and jobs, certainly much more than that.

So, you know, I think it's an ongoing issue and it's something that we're going to be keeping track of, certainly throughout the next year. But it really is the biggest thing. What we did add. Though, in this one, that we haven't asked before is How will the political party of the candidates impact how you vote? And we haven't asked that one before, but I thought it was really interesting.

It came in at number two.

So 17% of North Carolina voters said that the political party of the candidate, not one of our policy issues that we had listed, was the most important, including even among independents who said that the political party of the candidates is really going to play a role in how they vote. Yeah, I mean, it's hard to argue that the political lines are not being dug in further into the sand on both sides of the political aisle, really digging in their heels on a variety of issues, and that is seemingly affecting some of those voters.

So, Donna, we talk about the right and wrong direction. Folks are thinking things are not heading in necessarily in the right direction. Yet, our poll is showing for the first time that President Donald Trump's approval in his second term is now above water. It's a very slight percentage advantage, approved versus disapprove, but the president is not. Completely getting drowned out in his unapproval numbers.

Right, right. Yeah, so that is one thing we found: that 49.4% approve of how Donald Trump is performing as president. 49% disapprove.

So, you know, his numbers are up a little bit, but they still are 49.4 to 49% in approval and disapproval rating for Donald Trump as president. And some of that, you know, later in the poll, we asked who owns this economy? Who do you credit? for this economy. And most people, particularly Republicans, said that they credit Donald Trump that it was just not even a year in that they're crediting Donald Trump with this economy.

And that's probably going to be the case, and I would expect those numbers to increase the longer that he's in office.

Well, and I think that could potentially pose an issue for the president, Donna, as we've discussed tariffs a variety of times here on this show. We've got consistent coverage over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. One of the things that we continue to hear from economists is that the full impact of tariffs have not really trickled down through the economy yet. We could be looking at that as we head into the latter parts or early parts of next year. If folks are saying, yeah, the economy is Trump's responsibility and it's his doing, he's going to have to own the good and the bad.

Sure, sure. I mean, you know, that is one of the things that we've been watching really closely because as they take effect and as things happen to prices, how they impact prices, that's going to go on into the fall.

So, how will that change how people perceive Donald Trump and how they perceive the tariffs? But we did find that majority of people said that they were willing to let them work to see if they can get prices to come down. But most people said that they really weren't willing to wait more than 18 months to two years for them to work on bringing prices down.

So, you know, patience is kind of narrow, but for the moment, it appears that voters are willing to give them a chance. Let's turn our attention back to the state of North Carolina. Governor Stein has been in office pretty much just as long as Donald Trump. Yes, he was the AG before, so a relatively well known figure, had a huge election night victory in November of last year. What do voters currently think about the job that Democrat Governor Josh Stein is doing?

Sure, approval is high for Governor Stein right now. It's 50.5%, which is pretty high. I think he actually exceeds Cooper as he was leaving office. 31% for disapproval. But that leaves a big 18% of folks who are unsure.

And that really is what it comes down to. They don't know enough about him. And his center of support is in the triangle area around the Capitol. About 60% approval rating here in the triangle. Everywhere else is in the 40s.

So I think a lot of that speaks to not necessarily that they don't like him. It's more that they just don't know him. And I think he also had a lift there at the beginning because he could work with lawmakers, Republican lawmakers, in Helene recovery.

So I think it's still early in the process, but so far, a pretty high job approval rating for Governor Stein. And, Dono, you and I have talked about this both publicly and privately. As you talk about Stein's approval being essentially limited, at least the positive numbers, limited to the triangle area and in and around the state capitol. This has always been the larger problem: there's a lack of what's going on in North Carolina politics that really trickles outside of Raleigh. Maybe Charlotte's a little bit of a different example because it is such a major, large metro, but that stuff very infrequently trickles out to the mountains or the coast.

Sure, yeah, actually that's really true. People are very invested in their local politics, their state legislative politics, and elected officials. But the governor's role doesn't really get out there as much unless it is in the triangle area. But there's so much state government here that is part of that executive branch. I think that's why you see high ratings here in the triangle area.

You know, and also Cooper and Stein have been really good about kind of keeping their head down, not letting things get out unless they control it, control the messaging, control the access, control the event, the gribbon cuttings and that kind of thing.

So I think that's why you really see high support up for the boss here in Raleigh, but you really don't hear much outside of Raleigh. Coming up in March of next year, there will be a primary for both Republicans and Democrats as we turn the corner and head towards what is expected to be a very expensive and highly contentious midterm election in 2026 from Washington, D.C. down here to North Carolina. Donna, while the primary hasn't happened, there are two major candidates that have announced and are running pretty hard campaigns to this point: former Democrat Governor Roy Cooper, former head of the North Carolina Republican Party, and head of the RNC, Michael Watley. What is our polling looking like for these two very, not necessarily well-known, but very documented candidates?

These are not newcomers just popping onto the scene. No, certainly not. They definitely aren't. And one of the things we noted, you'll remember from the August poll, is that there was a name recognition deficit with Michael Watley, the presumed Republican candidate. Certainly, though, we're not through the primary just yet.

There are other candidates, other Republicans running for that nomination for U.S. Senate. Michael Watley is the focus at the moment because he does have. An endorsement from Donald Trump, which here in North Carolina is pretty powerful. We saw that in the 2024 election.

So, Michael Watley closing that gap with Roy Cooper, who has nearly universal name recognition as the Democrat candidate. And Democrats are good at kind of clearing the field for the chosen candidate. Certainly, Cooper would count for that.

So, Michael Watley now is at 42% likely to vote for him, which is a gain of three points and really has gained ground. And he really only trails Cooper by like 4%. Cooper has about a 46% in this latest poll.

So, those are some tight numbers. And if we were any closer to the election, we would say it was almost neck and neck. But then again, we have more than a year to go before the Senate race. It is pretty remarkable, though, who a relatively unknown candidate for most people, unless you're a real politico, you may not know who Michael Watley is. He used to be the director of the North.

Carolina GOP and was director, chairman of the RNC at the national level. But this, I believe, is his first run for actual office.

So a lot of folks just didn't know who he was. But now he's within four points of Governor Cooper, and everybody knows who he is.

Well, and Donna, you know, we haven't headed to the best part of the year when you can't turn on the television without seeing political ad after political ad after political ad. Your mailbox every day is full of them, text messages, emails. We're not anywhere near close to that, 14 months out from that election. Yet it does appear that at least for the Republican candidate, a presumed Republican candidate in this race, that he is doing at least something to grow that name ID. Yeah, I think he really is.

I mean, he's, if you know him, you know that he is somebody who will who is out on the stump a lot for him. And it sounds like they are working hard to boost that name ID. They may have gone in knowing what the issues would be. And that would be the biggest one: name ID, especially when you're going up against somebody who is so well known like Roy Cooper. Roy Cooper had fairly positive approval ratings when he was governor.

And he spent, I mean, close to 40 years in statewide elected office between the Attorney General and governor. He really was a state employee, a government elected official for almost his entire career. And this is Michael Watley's first run of this.

So even though he's been in politics for a very long time, solid on policy, people just didn't know who he is. But there will be some things he'll have to overcome, name ID being that big one. And then, as we said before, whatever's happening with the tariff policy and will that be affecting prices? Because he's so closely tied to President Trump, that might be an issue as he comes up. But then again, Cooper's going to have to have some things he has to overcome: things like shutting down the state government and public schools during COVID and the mess over at the DMV.

And all of these things are really going to be quite an issue. Certainly, problems, bureaucratic nightmares, snafus in storm recovery. All of those things happened under his watch.

So both have some things that they're tackling to try and get down into November of 2026. And that's obviously this race and this poll question is one that we are going to keep very close tabs on as we go through the next year or so. We'll keep you up to date with that over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com, and right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour. We'll continue with details out of our September Carolina Journal poll with Donna King coming up after this. You're listening to the Carolina Journal News Hour.

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It's 5:23. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, News Talk 11:10, 993 WBT. We'll get back with Donna King on some of our September poll numbers coming up here a little bit later on in the show this morning. Before that, we are finally getting some more details this morning from Governor Josh Stein and his Wednesday visit to Washington, D.C. to talk with congressional delegates as well as those in the United States Senate about additional aid for North Carolina from Hurricane Helene.

The governor, as well as local officials from Buncom, Ashe, Haywood, Madison, and Rutherford counties all traveled to D.C. on Wednesday to meet with the administration and members of Congress. The governor, as we have been talking about all week, requesting $13.5 billion from the federal government in a press release, the governor noted, quote, It's been nearly a year since Hurricane Helene, and while we are grateful for every dollar of federal support we have received, we need more. I was pleased to meet with the Trump administration and members of our congressional delegation to advocate for that additional $13.5 billion to strengthen Western North Carolina recovery, getting folks back into their homes, boosting small business, supporting local governments, and repairing critical infrastructure. It is important to note that the storm is estimated to have cost somewhere in the ballpark of $60 billion, which is almost more than double the state's yearly budget, which sits a little over $30 billion a year.

That $13.5 billion request breaks down into a couple of different large areas, $8 billion from HUD to rebuild homes and provide funding for small businesses and complete repairs to critical infrastructure. $400 million from the Small Business Administration in forgivable small business loans to those folks affected in the western half. $1.6 billion from the United States Department of Transportation, that's the USDOT, to restore roads as well as critical infrastructure, including permanent repairs on Interstate 40, which is currently operating in a temporary status.

Some portions of I-40 out west, it is just one lane in each direction, speed limits 35-45 miles an hour.

So, $1.6 billion to solidify some of those repairs, as well as nearly $2 billion from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, primarily for special community disaster loans, which is a loan set up to help local governments finance police and fire protections, help with revenue collection, pay things like hazard insurance, trash collection, and public facility maintenance. While there are four areas: restoring homes, supporting small businesses, bolstering government, and building roads that make up most. most of the $13.5 billion worth of requests from Congress. The governor said that the state is still waiting for $6 billion that Congress appropriated last December with the American Relief Act. The governor saying, quote, so far North Carolina has received or been awarded federal funding equivalent to about 9% of the total damage of Hurricane Helene.

States that were similarly devastated following Hurricanes Katrina, Maria, and Sandy saw 70% of their damages covered by federal funding. The average is typically between 40 and 50 percent of total damage in federal relief dollars. Stein's $23 billion request includes $6 billion worth of previously appropriated monies, which would bring that total of federal support from North Carolina up to around 47%. Coming up next week, and we will be talking about it, September the 24th will mark that one-year date when Hurricane Helene brought so much destruction and devastation to western North Carolina. We will be diving into a variety of details on that next week.

We'll also be trying to catch up with some small business owners and other folks that have been dealing with the recovery and dealing with some of these relief efforts over the past calendar. Year to see how things are going as the state continues to push forward after the devastation and destruction of Halleen. That's coming up next week. You can read some more, including some pictures of Governor Stein, those representatives and delegates from North Carolina and members of Congress. We've got pictures of those and some additional details this morning over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com.

That story's headline: Stein and County Officials Go to DC to advocate for more Halleen recovery funding. You can read those details at CarolinaJournal.com. Tropic Fan Fest is on at Tropical Smoothie Cafe now until Sunday, September 21st. And you know what that means? A free smoothie with bowler food purchase for Tropic Awards members every day, all week.

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Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News, our news talk 1110-993 WBT. A scary situation unfolding at the UNCW, that's the University of North Carolina, at Wilmington yesterday evening. As there were reports late evening, around 7 p.m., about an active shooter on campus that caused the campus to be in lockdown for the better part of three hours before officials from the college reported to students, faculty, staff, and community members that that was a false alarm and noted, please be aware that much misinformation is circulating on social media. Here are some facts about today's events. This afternoon and evening, multiple reports came in claiming that an armed attacker was on campus.

The reports have been investigated and found to be untrue. We intend to thoroughly review each of these sources and provide more details. In the coming days, UNCW made some national news this week as well after students on campus argued and debated over what is known as the UNCW Spirit Rock. It was painted with a Charlie Kirk memorial on Monday to only have early Tuesday morning left-wing agitators on campus cover that memorial with buckets of paint. That did receive national news from major outlets, including Fox News and others.

And this report last night of an armed shooter on campus, again, being reported from multiple reports on social media. A lot of misinformation, I'll note as well. At 11:40 last night, the college sent out another update saying, In an abundance of caution, UNCW will cancel classes on Friday and all assignments and exams are postponed. Students in fully online programs should consult with their instructors on how this could impact their courses. Also, noting that the library Will be closed as well, and many other facilities on campus.

As there have been anonymous threats made on social media about some limited acts of violence on the campus on Friday, this is an active and dynamic situation as political tensions do continue to rise after the assassination of Charlie Kirk last Wednesday. We'll keep an eye on the details right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour, where it's now 5:37, News Talk 11:10, 99.3 WBT. We are keeping you up to date this morning on the latest ongoings in North Carolina with our new September Carolina Journal poll as we continue our discussion this morning. Donna King, the editor-in-chief of CarolinaJournal.com, joins us on the news hour. Donna, unfortunately, Charlotte, North Carolina has been getting some increased media, national media coverage over the last couple of weeks.

It's not because a new big business is opening or anything of that nature. It's after the horrific murder of 23-year-old Irina Zaruska on a Charlotte light rail in late August. That has really gripped the nation. There's been a lot of discussion on it, including even from President Donald Trump.

Now we're learning details about a congressional hearing that's going to be taking place here in Charlotte in the next couple of weeks. What are folks' thoughts on public transit in our new poll? Sure, in this poll, we asked voters in North Carolina, likely voters, how confident are you that public transit in your area is safe from crime?

So only about 27% of folks said it was somewhat confident, and 12% said very confident. But when you look at overall not confidence levels, the totals are pretty. pretty grim. I mean we're we're looking at close to 40% of people say they are not comfortable. 50% weren't even sure.

And some of that might be because they may not have a lot of public transportation or they just simply don't use it. In Charlotte, which is what we're watching so closely, about 50% of folks say that they believe that public transit is not safe in their area. And I was actually there earlier this week. My daughter lives in the South End neighborhood where the murder happened, right there at the stop, actually. And there's definitely a tension, a palpable tension in the neighborhood around where this crime happened.

And it's a nice area. I mean, there's an Abercrombie infitch right across the street from the stop where she was murdered. But there is, it's tough. And I think that's what city leaders are worried about. And that they're worried people won't use it.

And now they have to deal with, of course, federal and state-level officials saying, hey, what's going on down there? And are you really keeping people safe?

Well, and it's also relevant coming up a little bit later this year, Donna, ahead of the midterm elections, there's going to be a sales tax increase on the ballot for voters in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County to fund additional public transportation projects. To me, that's got to be a tough issue to deal with when half of people in the area say, I don't feel safe riding public transit. It seems like they probably would not be in favor of having more of their money taken away to fund something that either A, they don't want to use, or B, they don't feel safe to do it anyway. Sure, sure. Well, in talking to people in Charlotte this week, the number one thing that I heard from most people who use it on a regular basis is that it's really not secure because no one checks tickets.

There's no turnstile to get on it. You can literally, you know, just walk straight up and get on one of the cars. And there are monitors occasionally, you don't see them very often. There are monitors on these to make sure people are, you know, have a ticket and aren't misbehaving. But if they are stopped by a monitor, that monitor is not a police officer.

They just jump off and get onto another car.

So it really isn't a super secure line. And I think that's what we're seeing. Just simple railings and turnstiles may deter some. But there's also nonprofits in the city who can hand out passes for free.

So that's not really a barrier, but those are the kind of things that I think most commuters would like to see: to have some sort of measures in place to keep it secure. Obviously, that is a major national story, and here a local story that we'll be keeping an eye on as well. Donna, one of the other huge national stories that really kind of sucked a lot of the air out of the room from the Charlotte story, which was getting huge national attention throughout the early and middle parts of last week, the assassination of Charlie Kirk that happened last Wednesday on the campus of UVU in Utah. That event taking place, a 30-hour manhunt. A suspect is now in custody.

Charges levied against the Utah prosecutors. And really, Donna, one of the concerning things in all of this has been some of the response with people cheering on his assassination, saying, you know, we need to go after his wife next. We need to go after more and more Republicans. This has been a very interesting thing to watch predominantly unfold on social media. What do North Carolina voters think about political violence?

Sure.

Well, I mean, first, we kind of wanted to set a base level. How concerned are you with the rise of political violence in the United States? 94.9% of people said they are concerned about the rise of political violence. Of those, 82% said they're very concerned. The rise of political violence.

Now, keep in mind this was in the field there just a few days after the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

So, certainly, this is a point where we can agree on, and maybe that's the first step, right? Is that among Democrats and Republicans and Independents in our poll, they're all concerned about the rise of political violence. But the question is: what do you do about it? And who really is to blame? One of the other questions that we said is: who do you think is to blame for political violence?

And about 34%, which is the largest single amount, said politicians and elected officials were to blame. The second most selected was 26%, said the media is. You know, activists as an option, and then social media companies.

So, activists only got about 16% of the blame here among the respondents of this poll. And some of that I think is interesting because to me, it shows there might be a disconnect in what people Think who people think are spreading negative things on social media. They may think it's coming from a politician. They may think it's coming from the media. Often it is an activist group that's passing these things around on social media.

So that was an interesting point. But overall, when it comes down to it, 60% of people say it's elected officials in the media who are to blame for political violence. But you can tell it's a split on parties. Democrats were much more often saying that politicians, which to me says that they're Donald Trump. And Republicans were more likely to say that it was the media to blame for the rise in political violence.

The big one, though, is something that we were really curious to say is what's the tolerance, right, for violence? Do you believe it's ever acceptable to use violence or assassination attempts against political leaders or public figures with whom you disagree? 93.4% of people, regardless of party, say it is never acceptable to resort to political violence. And that was encouraging. And remember, these are North Carolina voters.

That says who we are as a state, regardless of party.

Now, Democrats were a little more likely to say that it is sometimes acceptable, but it was still, you know, in the single digits to do so.

So that is encouraging. It says what North Carolina really is, that maybe perhaps we're not following that long march toward violence. But North Carolinians were a little more willing to accept harassing public figures when they're out grocery shopping at restaurants or whatever. 74% said no, it is never acceptable. 20% said yes, it is acceptable to harass public figures when they're running going about their normal everyday life.

So those things are really interesting. And moderates kind of lean toward what Republicans said in all of those questions. We've got to watch those closely because unaffiliated, that's our largest voting bloc in North Carolina. Yes, that is a very interesting voting block. Donna, we have a lot more that we didn't have a chance to get into this morning.

Folks, maybe want to dive into some more of the data, more of the details. Where can they go and do that? Absolutely.

Head over to Carolinajournal.com. All those crosstabs are there, and you can really dig in and let us know what you think. We appreciate the information and the insight this morning. The editor-in-chief of CarolinaJournal.com, Donna King, joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Tropic Fan Fest is on at Tropical Smoothie Cafe now until Sunday, September 21st.

And you know what that means? A free smoothie with bowler food purchase for Tropic Awards members every day, all week. Download our app and join to get it on the fun. Terms and conditions apply. Um The sixth annual WBT Little Heroes Blood Drive continues next week, Thursday, September the 25th.

WBT and the One Blood Big Red Bus will be at the Dog House in Uptown Charlotte from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. We'll be broadcasting live and are encouraging you to make a life-saving blood donation. It's the sixth annual WBT Little Heroes Blood Drive next Thursday, September the 25th at the Dog House in Uptown Charlotte. Visit WBT.com this morning for location details and to make sure that you can register your appointment.

It's now 5:52. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, News Talk 1110-993. WBT, as we have discussed this morning, both in our Carolina Journal poll and in some of the concerning information coming out of UNCW in Wilmington, UNC Wilmington, some discussion over free speech on college campuses.

Well, we've got a new report out this morning from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expressions, also known as FHIR. They recently released their sixth annual report on the status of free speech on college campuses. FHIR gauged students' experience with free speech by asking them questions related to expressing controversial opinions both in and out of the classroom, their perceived institutional tolerance for differing viewpoints, and how often students practice what is known as self-censorship. FHIR is a nonprofit civil liberties group that aims to advocate for and educate on free speech nationally. And in this new survey, more than 68,000 students on 257 college campuses were polled as this survey ran from January to June.

So, before the Charlie Kirk assassination, however, some very concerning numbers in this survey. It asked students how acceptable various forms of protest against campus speakers would be. It also included questions about things such as acceptability of blocking students from attending an event on campus, and another question about using violence to stop campus speech. Most students, 72% of them, responded that it is acceptable in limited circumstances to shout down a speaker on campus to stop them from speaking about a controversial topic, 72% saying that. Here's the really eye-popping number.

Of the students surveyed, 34% said using violence to stop someone from speaking is acceptable, at least in rare cases. According to FHIR, this percentage has increased by 10 points over the past four years.

So this has been a growing trend on universities across the United States. 34% of students say, well, it could be acceptable to use violence if we don't like what somebody is saying. The percentage of students who would shut down a speaker, block students from attending an event or use violence to end campus speech have all increased since last year and are at record highs. These percentages are also unfortunately higher in North Carolina, with 36% of North Carolina college students communicating that they think it is acceptable to use violence to stop someone from speaking on campus. According to Sean Stevens, who is the chief research advisor to FHIR, he said, Most students think most students, more students than ever think violence and chaos are acceptable alternatives to peaceful protest.

This finding cuts across partisan lines. It's not just a liberal or conservative problem. It's an American problem. Although the results of the survey reflect Stevens' comments, North Carolina's schools, or at least a couple of them, topped the free speech ranking list.

So there is some silver lining in all of this. UNCG up in Greensboro reported sixth overall in terms of free speech. App stayed at eighth, NC stayed at 10th, ECU 14th, Chapel Hill 19th, and UNC Charlotte 20th. According to researchers from FHIR, they noted, quote, a handful of schools have consistently outperformed their peers in fostering environments more conductive to free expression. This group includes all of this year's top five schools, as well as institutions like the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

These high-ranking schools, however, stand out not because they've created truly robust speech climates, but because most of their peers are doing far worse. The 2025 rankings reveal a bleak picture, the report notes. 166 of the 257 schools evaluated received an overall score below 60, earning a failing grade in regards to their campus's climate on things like free speech. This year, FHIR awarded the highest grade overall over the six years that they have conducted this study with a 79.86 out of 100 going to Claremont McKenna College. We've got some additional details, including some of these concerning numbers.

36% of North Carolina college students think violence is acceptable to shut down speech. All of that is available over on our website this morning, CarolinaJournal.com. The story: a third of college students say violence is an option to stop campus speech. That's going to do it for a Friday edition of the Carolina Journal News Hour. WBT News is next.

Followed by Good Morning, BT. We're back with you Monday morning, 5-6, right here on News Talk 1110 and 99.3, WBT. Tropic Fan Fest is on at Tropical Smoothie Cafe now until Sunday, September 21st. And you know what that means? A free smoothie with bowler food purchase for Tropic Awards members every day all week.

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