North Carolina swung back to the Republicans in the 2012 presidential election — but the state’s electoral future is far from certain.
Unaffiliated voters outnumber registered Democrats or Republicans in 42 of 100 N.C. counties, according to a recent report of 2012 election results by Democracy North Carolina, a left-leaning voter advocacy organization in Durham.
Unaffiliated voters in the state have been growing, signifying diminishing party allegiance, said Bob Hall, director of Democracy North Carolina.
“We’re not so much a state that’s split between Republicans and Democrats as one that’s really up for grabs because voters are not feeling strongly affiliated with either party,” Hall said.
Rick Henderson, managing editor of the right-leaning John Locke Foundation’s Carolina Journal, said the growing number of unaffilliated voters helps make North Carolina a contentious swing state.
“What we see in voter registration numbers is the percentage of unaffiliated is going up — not as dramatic as some Western states — but we’re getting to a point where we may have as much as 25 percent unaffiliated,” he said.
While the number of unaffiliated voters is growing, the state is also becoming increasingly polarized.
Former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama evenly split the 10 N.C. counties with the highest turnout, according to the report.
“It’s a very divided time right now — politics are very divided, and there are a lot of strong feelings and anger,” said Rob Schofield, director of research and policy development at the left-leaning N.C. Policy Watch. “I think that is reflected somewhat in who’s voting and how they’re voting.”
