Politics of North Carolina

United States presidential election results for North Carolina^[1]
Year	Republican / Whig		Democratic		Third party
Year	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
2020	2,758,775	49.93%	2,684,292	48.59%	81,737	1.48%
2016	2,362,631	49.83%	2,189,316	46.17%	189,617	4.00%
2012	2,270,395	50.39%	2,178,391	48.35%	56,586	1.26%
2008	2,128,474	49.38%	2,142,651	49.70%	39,664	0.92%
2004	1,961,166	56.02%	1,525,849	43.58%	13,992	0.40%
2000	1,631,163	56.03%	1,257,692	43.20%	22,407	0.77%
1996	1,225,938	48.73%	1,107,849	44.04%	182,020	7.24%
1992	1,134,661	43.44%	1,114,042	42.65%	363,147	13.90%
1988	1,237,258	57.97%	890,167	41.71%	6,945	0.33%
1984	1,346,481	61.90%	824,287	37.89%	4,593	0.21%
1980	915,018	49.30%	875,635	47.18%	65,180	3.51%
1976	741,960	44.22%	927,365	55.27%	8,581	0.51%
1972	1,054,889	69.46%	438,705	28.89%	25,018	1.65%
1968	627,192	39.51%	464,113	29.24%	496,188	31.26%
1964	624,844	43.85%	800,139	56.15%	0	0.00%
1960	655,420	47.89%	713,136	52.11%	0	0.00%
1956	575,062	49.34%	590,530	50.66%	0	0.00%
1952	558,107	46.09%	652,803	53.91%	0	0.00%
1948	258,572	32.68%	459,070	58.02%	73,567	9.30%
1944	263,155	33.29%	527,399	66.71%	0	0.00%
1940	213,633	25.97%	609,015	74.03%	0	0.00%
1936	223,283	26.60%	616,141	73.40%	40	0.00%
1932	208,344	29.28%	497,566	69.93%	5,591	0.79%
1928	348,923	54.94%	286,227	45.06%	0	0.00%
1924	191,753	39.73%	284,270	58.89%	6,664	1.38%
1920	232,848	43.22%	305,447	56.69%	463	0.09%
1916	120,890	41.71%	168,383	58.10%	562	0.19%
1912	29,139	11.95%	144,507	59.24%	70,272	28.81%
1908	114,887	45.49%	136,928	54.22%	739	0.29%
1904	82,442	39.67%	124,091	59.71%	1,285	0.62%
1900	132,997	45.47%	157,733	53.92%	1,788	0.61%
1896	155,122	46.82%	174,408	52.64%	1,807	0.55%
1892	100,346	35.80%	132,951	47.44%	46,973	16.76%
1888	134,784	47.20%	147,902	51.79%	2,877	1.01%
1884	125,021	46.59%	142,905	53.25%	430	0.16%
1880	115,616	47.98%	124,204	51.55%	1,126	0.47%
1876	108,484	46.38%	125,427	53.62%	0	0.00%
1872	94,772	57.38%	70,130	42.46%	261	0.16%
1868	96,939	53.41%	84,559	46.59%	0	0.00%
1860	0	0.00%	2,737	2.83%	93,975	97.17%
1856	0	0.00%	48,243	56.78%	36,720	43.22%
1852	39,043	49.49%	39,788	50.43%	60	0.08%
1848	44,054	55.17%	35,772	44.80%	26	0.03%
1844	43,232	52.39%	39,287	47.61%	2	0.00%
1840	46,567	57.68%	34,168	42.32%	0	0.00%
1836	23,521	46.90%	26,631	53.10%	1	0.00%

Like most U.S. states, North Carolina is politically dominated by the Democratic and Republican political parties. North Carolina has 14 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and two seats in the U.S. Senate. North Carolina has voted for the Republican candidate in all but one presidential election since 1980; the one exception was in 2008, when a plurality of North Carolinians voted for Barack Obama. However, since that election, the state has remained closely contested with Republicans winning by no more than four points and obtaining a majority of the vote only in 2012. This stands in contrast to the post-Civil War era, as the state was a strongly Democratic Solid South state from 1880 to 1964, only voting Republican in 1928.^[2]

However, North Carolina has mostly elected Democratic governors in its history; only four Republican governors have been elected since Reconstruction, and of those only one served two terms.

^ Leip, David. "Presidential General Election Results Comparison – North Carolina". US Election Atlas. Retrieved October 24, 2022.
^ "North Carolina Presidential Election Voting History - 270toWin".

[1] Leip, David. "Presidential General Election Results Comparison – North Carolina". US Election Atlas. Retrieved October 24, 2022.

[2] "North Carolina Presidential Election Voting History - 270toWin".

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