There is less than a week until Election Day, the last day to vote in the 2024 general election and the night North Carolinians are hoping to get unofficial results in the presidential race, among many other down ballot battles.
North Carolina has been competitive ground this election season with Donald Trump, Kamala Harris and their surrogates making numerous visits to the state all in competition for the 16 Electoral College votes.
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Experts are expecting a close race, considering Trump won by only 1.3 percentage points in 2020 and Democrats have only won the state twice in the past 50 years, with the last time being under Barack Obama in 2008.
Despite the polls, the next president of the United States of America will be chosen when one earns at least 270 of the Electoral College votes.
Things are still in a dead heat between Trump and Harris, late October polls show, similar to polls conducted in early October which showed a race too close to call.
An Emerson College poll conducted between Oct. 21-22 showed Trump with 50% support and Harris with 48%, among likely voters. Trump’s minor lead is within the margin of error and shows a gender divide, Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College polling, wrote in the report.
“There is a clear gender divide, with men favoring Trump more strongly than women for Harris,” Kimball said. “In North Carolina, men back Trump by 13 points, while women support Harris by 7 points.”
An October Quinnipiac poll showed a 2 percentage point difference in the presidential race too, but this time on the upside for Harris. Harris was at 49%, Trump at 47% and other candidates at 1% in this poll among likely voters.
Thus, the race is too close to call, the poll states. This Quinnipiac poll is a flip-flop from their Oct. 1 poll, which showed Trump at 49% and Harris at 47%.
The Marist Poll, conducted between Oct. 17 and Oct. 22, showed Trump ahead of Harris by 2 percentage points among likely voters, a lead within the margin of error. It also showed that Independents are more likely to support Trump than Harris.
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“Trump (53%) leads Harris (42%) among independents who are likely to vote,” the poll report stated. “In September, Trump (48%) and Harris (48%) tied among independents statewide. According to the 2020 Exit Poll, Biden (50%) carried independents by 4 points against Trump (46%).”
The poll also showed that Trump leads over Harris in white voter support and Harris leads over Trump among Black voters.
Overall, a RealClear Polling average of polls shows Trump ahead of Harris in the state by less than 1 percentage point (0.8).
There are over 7 million registered voters in North Carolina who will help ultimately decide the fate of the state, and over 2 million have already voted, the State Board of Elections has reported.
This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Kamala Harris and Donald Trump in close race in North Carolina polls
