GREENVILLE: With his approval rating at record lows, president Donald Trump attempted to defy political gravity in a pep rally in North Carolina on Tuesday, urging voters to support his favoured Senate candidate in a race some Republican groups have already given up on.
Trump has embarked on a campaign blitz ahead of the Nov 3 midterm elections, traveling more than 29,000 miles (46,671 km) since late September to boost Republican candidates - and his second stop in North Carolina in as many months was a signal of how much is at stake in this southern state.
Polls show former Democratic governor Roy Cooper with a commanding lead over Republican Michael Whatley, a former senior party official, in a Senate race that could help decide the balance of power in Washington.
The two are running to fill the seat of retiring Republican Thom Tillis, a one-time Trump ally, who split with the president over his landmark tax bill and defense policy.
Tillis told Politico in a Tuesday interview that his fellow Republicans were headed toward “a train wreck” and a "whoop ass" in November.
But Trump, speaking in the eastern city of Greenville on Tuesday night, predicted Whatley would prove the doubters wrong.
"I think you're gonna see some amazing results," he told hundreds of supporters who gathered on the grounds of the local airport. "They never poll us right. We have more spirit."
'We need you'
Trump won North Carolina in each of his three presidential runs, but Democrats are banking on a breakthrough performance this year, with polls showing a clear majority of Americans dissatisfied with rising prices and the war in Iran.
The president's approval rating has fallen to 31%, according to the latest Reuters/Ipsos survey, the lowest mark at any point during his two terms in office.
In early voting in North Carolina, Democrats have cast more ballots than Republicans by a two-to-one margin, according to state data.
Republican candidates on Tuesday night implored voters to turn out early.
"This is a Republican majority district," said Laurie Buckhout, a Trump-backed candidate running for a congressional seat in a mostly rural eastern district. “We have the momentum. We have the message. Now we need you."
Republicans hold 10 of the state's 14 House seats, but a handful of districts are viewed as battlegrounds this cycle - and have attracted significant spending.
Buckhout's race against Democratic Representative Don Davis has drawn US$21 million in outside money since Sept 1, making it the third most expensive contest in the country, according to a Reuters analysis of campaign filings.
In the state's mountainous west, outside groups have spent US$14.5 million on the race between Democrat Jamie Ager and Republican Jennifer Balkcom.
Whatley, by contrast, has largely been abandoned by the national party apparatus. The Senate Leadership Fund, the primary PAC supporting Republican candidates for the upper chamber, cut off spending in North Carolina earlier this month as Cooper posted double-digit leads in poll after poll.
'Tighten that ship up'
Trump's popularity has cratered since he ordered military strikes on Iran in February alongside US ally Israel, triggering a surge in gasoline and diesel prices.
Some 68% of Americans disapprove of Trump's handling of the economy, Reuters/Ipsos has found, including 37% of self-identified Republicans.
Taylor Smith, who described herself as a housewife in Greenville, told Reuters she had only ever voted Republican, but the drama of the Trump administration had her thinking twice.
Disorganisation within the White House was bleeding into policy, she said, revealing Trump’s lack of focus.
“Anything good that could be happening is being co-opted by the tomfoolery that's just going on,” Smith said.
"I hate these gas prices," she added, urging the president to “tighten that ship up.”
As he has in events across the country, Trump heralded what he said were new local investments on Tuesday night.
Sibelco, an industrial minerals mining and processing company, was expanding its operations in North Carolina, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick announced on stage without providing specifics.
Sibelco did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump said the US defence department would also invest US$1.5 billion in semiconductor chip production in North Carolina, but did not say where or how the money would be spent.
Toward the end of his speech, the president repeated his promise to give US$5,000 to every US adult should Republicans maintain their hold on Congress.
"If we lose," he said, "you get nothing."