In the hours before 7:30 p.m. November 5th when NC began to see results, here are some quick takes:  

• NC saw two records broken in early voting. 2024 had the highest early voting turnout in  state history with 4 million-plus voters (2020 saw 3.1 million). This means over half of  NC’s registered voters participated in early voting.  
• More astounding is that for first time, NC Democrats did not lead early voting. As we  begin to prepare this report, Ds will have to turn out about 300,000 more in-person  voters just to make up the deficit. Election Day voting is usually the turf of NC  Republicans. It will be interesting to see if both parties flipped the script on each other.  The NC State Board of Election was anticipating 1M North Carolinians to vote on Election Day. 
• Unaffiliated voters make up the majority of NC’s 7.7 million registered voters.1 The last  statewide poll conducted in NC (just prior to Hurricane Helene) demonstrated that the  issues most important to NC voters placed immigration and the economy at the top of  the list. These two issues also poll the highest for swing/persuadable voters and could  parlay into an advantage for Trump.2
• The worry that voting in WNC and the areas most impacted by Hurricane Helene would  be depressed did not materialize. Except for the Asheville area, early voting was robust  in WNC. According to the North State Journal, “voters in the 25 western NC countes  impacted by Hurricane Helene had a higher turnout rate than the rest of the state at  58.9%.”  

FSP NOVEMBER 5 ELECTION REPORT