Donald Trump swept the election, winning all seven battleground states, and clinching the Tar Heel State by a larger margin than in 2020. And yet, in North Carolina, Democrats prevailed with Josh Stein winning against controversial Republican competitor Mark Robinson in a race for the governorship.
Over 5.7 million North Carolinians cast a ballot in November, posting one of the state’s highest turnout percentages, 73.7%. But who were all of those voters?
Here’s a look into the party affiliation, age, race and ethnicity of North Carolina’s 2024 general election voters, according to voter turnout and demographic data from the North Carolina State Board of Elections.
North Carolina voter turnout in 2024 slightly down from 2020, according to voter registration and demographic data from the North Carolina State Board of Elections.
Is NC still a battleground state? Political analysts weigh in after Trump won again
Republicans turn out in highest percentage
Registered Republican voters had the highest turnout percentage, but unaffiliated voters cast the most total ballots out of any party.
Democrats had a voter turnout of 73.1%, Republicans 79.8% and unaffiliated voters turned out at 66.9%.
Democrats casted over 170,000 fewer ballots in 2024 than they did in the 2020 presidential election. They also turned out with two more percentage points in 2020. Republicans cast more ballots this year than in 2020, but they had a higher turnout percentage in 2020. Unaffiliated voters cast over 200,000 more ballots this year than in 2020 but had a higher turnout percentage in 2020.
Election maps: See how all 100 North Carolina counties voted for president, governor
Registered Republican voters in North Carolina had the highest voter turnout percentage in the 2024 general election, according to data from the North Carolina State Board of Elections.
White voters far outpace all other races in turnout
There were large disparities in voter turnout among white and non-white voters.
White voters outpaced all other voter groups by a sizeable percentage point margin. Their turnout was higher than Black voter turnout by 12.2 percentage points, 10.3 percentage points higher than Asian voter turnout, 15.5 percentage points higher than American Indian or Alaska Native voter turnout and almost 20 percentage points higher than Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander voter turnout.
The gap between Hispanic/Latino voters and non-Hispanic/Latino voters was large too. registered Hispanic/Latino voters turned out at 56.2% whereas non-Hispanic/Latino voters turned out at 75.8%, an almost 20 percentage point difference. However, this year, Hispanic/Latino voters cast almost 50,000 more votes than in 2020 despite having a lower turnout percentage this year compared to 2020.
Registered white voters in North Carolina turned out with the highest percentage in the 2024 general election, according to data from the North Carolina State Board of Elections.
Young voter turnout down from 2020
As voter age increased, so did turnout percentage. Voters aged 18-25 turned out in the lowest percentage at 57.4%, being outpaced by voters 66 and older by almost 26 percentage points.
Compared to 2020, the youngest group of voters turned out 2.6 percentage points less in 2024. Despite the lower turnout percentage, North Carolina’s youngest voters cast over 12,000 more ballots this year than in 2020.
This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: A look at voter turnout in North Carolina’s 2024 general election
