Why did they use North Carolina as an example? Were they hoping to prove some point about Southerners? NC is so full of Yankee transplants to the Triangle and the coast, as well as illegal laborers, that native NCer’s are in the demographic minority now.
Don’t forget about Charlotte — the vast majority of people in Charlotte working in Financial Services are transplants as well.
Having always lived in NC, most North Carolinians born and raised in the state would be considered hard line blue dog democrats.