Janine Rouson James: Voting for change, not substance

Regarding the Nov. 13 news article “7 rural N.C. counties flip ‘bloodshot red’ ”: I was glad the vote breakouts by county and info on what has happened in those areas over the years.

This is useful for us as North Carolinians so we understand our neighbors and instructional for both political parties to analyze.

I did canvassing and voter registration in rural areas of Wake County this election and saw plenty of Trump signs, so the article’s conclusions make sense.

State Democrats can benefit from re-assessing their role for rural residents and how to meet what they need.

I do wish though that they and all of North Carolina had evaluated Trump’s platform, because it was empty on specific policies/plans and long on rhetoric/fear. I wondered about my own closer neighbors this election, who for the first time in six presidential cycles did not have any yard signs for the Republican as they had in each before. I didn’t put out one for Clinton, who I supported, because of vandalism that happened in 2008 and 2012 on our signs.

The trumped-up hate this year was too much. Many in this state voted for Trump, but it wasn’t based on evidence of what he would do.

This story was originally published November 25, 2016 at 6:00 PM with the headline "Janine Rouson James: Voting for change, not substance."