From the primary to the general election, there’s just something about Republican Party presidential nominee Donald Trump that attracts voters.

There’s no doubt that Trump’s remarks throughout the campaign have inflamed a number of voters. From the start, a broad cross-section of American society thought Trump wouldn’t make it very far.

“The U.S. has become a dumping ground for everybody else’s problems,” Trump said in at his June 2015 campaign announcement. “It’s true. And these aren’t the best and the brightest.

Then came his now infamous line.

“They’re sending people that have lots of problems and they’re bringing those problems with us,” he said during the announcement speech. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”

Like many of his controversial remarks during the campaign, that line would echo for days over cable TV news airwaves. It would be condemned and dissected in a variety of ways.

When he visited Charlotte on Thursday, he directly addressed those past comments. In the span of a few sentences, he apologized for past remarks that may have offended voters. Yet he also pledged to always tell the truth.

“I speak the truth for all of you, and for everyone in this country who doesn’t have a voice,” Trump said to the large crowd.

He listed veterans, families living near the U.S.-Mexico border and factory workers who lost jobs among those he speaks for.

Later in the speech, Trump would call his oft-criticized remarks a product of sometimes being too honest.

Regardless of whether he’s giving a scripted speech, as he did Thursday, or one without a predetermined message, it’s Trump’s personality that seems to continue drawing support, even if a number of Republican leaders across the nation remain tepid about their endorsements.

“He’s the kind of person that doesn’t always say the popular thing and he’s not trying to appease everybody,” said Rockwell resident William Bradley, who attended the Charlotte Trump rally with a group of Rowan residents. “He’s trying to show his view of America, and the way that it should be. I think that’s what appeals to most everyday folks. He’s not giving you a polished speech that 40 writers have poured over.”

Even the scripted speeches that Trump gives seem more natural than Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, Bradley said.

Bradley said he’ll likely vote for Trump. And, although 2016 hasn’t been a normal presidential year, Rowan County almost surely will go for Trump in November. It’s a deeply Republican county, and Trump was the top pick during this year’s primary.

North Carolina is a different story from Rowan. It’s considered a battleground state — one where the results are expected to be close — but recent polling shows Clinton with a notable lead. Clinton is also spending remarkably more on advertising than Trump, whose campaign is also less organized on a local level.

With a tight race projected in North Carolina, it’s likely that Trump will be back in the state before November. That appearance may also include a teleprompter — a device he’s frequently used at recent events. His earlier speeches were the typical, free-wheeling events many liked about his personality.

Although Trump’s Thursday speech spent time on being the voice for “forgotten Americans,” he seemed to spend most of his time criticizing “the system.” He asked the crowd: “What do you have to lose by trying something new?”

“It is time to break with the faitures of the past, and to fight for every last American child in this country to have the better future they deserve,” Trump said.

He also reiterated campaign pledges to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, withdraw from the Trans Pacific Partnership and cut taxes.

“This is the change I am promising all of you: an honest government, a fair economy and a just society for each and every American,” he said.

Josh Bergeron is a reporter at the Salisbury Post.