Political expert Cokie Roberts talks 2016 election

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — We are about a year and half from the presidential election, but we are already talking about the candidates. Political expert Cokie Roberts was in the Port City as a guest speaker for the annual fundraising WHQR luncheon.

Roberts was a Congressional correspondent for more than 10 years.  And she is a political commentator for ABC News and NPR. We talked to her about the Tar Heel State’s influence on this upcoming presidential election.

Roberts says North Carolina in recent years has been a state that has been important in presidential elections. Back in 2008 the Tar Heel State was blue, but in 2012 it went back to red. Roberts says right now North Carolina is trending to be a red state, and if that is the case it won’t make a huge impact on the 2016 president election.

“If it is seen as a solidly red state it becomes not important in the general scheme of things in the same way that New York is seen as a solidly blue state, and so it is not important in the general scheme of things. It has to be a swing state for people to pay attention,” Roberts said.

Roberts says the demography of voters is changing also.

“Our electorate is less and less white and less and less old,” she said. “When you have a country that is changing as rapidly as ours, it’s very important for both political parties that they have to appeal to people they didn’t have to necessarily appeal to in the past, and that’s a challenge for both parties.”

Roberts says more minorities and younger people are heading to the polls. And even though both parties will have to work hard to reach those voters, Roberts says Republicans could have more of battle for voters.

“Generally what happens after a two-term president is that the opposite party is elected,” Roberts said. “There are some things that are working against (Republicans) this time around. One of them is demography. They are having trouble attracting minorities and young people.”

But what side will voters take by November 2016 is still up the air, and what political party will take North Carolina is still unknown.

“You can’t ever say that this is the way it is, and it will always be,” Roberts said. “It changes, and that’s fun.”