Obama sinking in North Carolina, but he hasn 't written it off

Now he is an incumbent president saddled with a struggling economy. Unemployment here is 10.1%, a full point higher than the national average. A new poll showed Obama 's approval rating in North Carolina at 43%. "He won it by 14,000 votes, so any decline in the president 's fortunes is going to put North Carolina in jeopardy.â € | His approval ratings are down in the state to the lowest levels in his tenure, and that will make it quite difficult for him to hold onto the state next year, " said Andrew Taylor, a political science professor at North Carolina State University. Obama also needs African Americans, who make up 22% of the state 's registered voters, to view the next election as just as important as 2008. It won 't be easy. In the big counties that propelled Obama to victory three years ago, turnout plunged in the 2010 midterm elections. Mecklenburg is the state 's largest county, and Obama won it with 62% of the vote. In the midterms, Mecklenburg 's turnout was only 38%, down from 66% in '08. (Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com …