Election data shows voters in a primarily Native American county turned out for President Trump more than former Vice President Joe Biden by a wide margin.
Native American majority precincts in Robeson County, North Carolina, supported Trump over Biden by nearly 40 points, eight years after President Barack Obama carried the county, according to J. Miles Coleman, associate editor at Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.
Robeson County, NC precincts where Native Americans are a majority of voters:
2012
Obama – 59.4%
Romney – 39.2%2020
Trump – 69.1%
Biden – 30.1%— J. Miles Coleman (@JMilesColeman) November 5, 2020
The overall vote total in Robeson County, located southwest of Fayetteville along the South Carolina border, stood at 58.7% for Trump and 40.7% for Biden, as of Thursday evening as votes are still counted in the Tar Heel State.
Native Americans, most notably the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, make up 42% of the roughly 130,000 residents in the county, which is more than any other racial demographic.
“In southeastern NC, Trump’s inroads in Robeson County ended up being real,” Coleman added. “The western part of the county is home to the Lumbee Indian tribe. In 2012, Obama swept every precinct where the Lumbee are a majority of registered voters — they all went to Trump this week.”
In southeastern NC, Trump’s inroads in Robeson County ended up being real. The western part of the county is home to the Lumbee Indian tribe. In 2012, Obama swept every precinct where the Lumbee are a majority of registered voters — they all went to Trump this week. #ncpol pic.twitter.com/loafDqBvuK
— J. Miles Coleman (@JMilesColeman) November 5, 2020
Trump held a rally in Robeson County in late October, days after declaring support for a bill that would provide federal recognition for the Lumbee Tribe.
Coleman told the Washington Examiner that the Lumbee are mostly socially conservative, voting to ban gay marriage effectively in 2012, but voted for mostly Democrats statewide in 2016, along with their support for Trump.
“As the national Democrats have gotten more liberal on those cultural issues, it’s a constituency that’s naturally drifted away,” Coleman said.
Inroads by Trump with minority communities showed up in national exit polls as well as the president earning a higher percentage of votes from “nonwhites” than any GOP presidential candidate in 60 years.
