The share of North Carolina Republicans who have voted early is far below their levels at this point in the 2022 and 2018 midterms. That’s a favorable sign for Democrats 16 days before Election Day.
After three days of early, in-person voting, registered Republicans make up 20% of those who have voted so far, according to the Vote Tracker from the John Locke Foundation.
By comparison, they were 30% of voters at this same point in the 2022 midterms, which was a good year for the GOP. Republicans were also 30% of voters at this point in the 2018 election, which ended up as a blue wave for Democrats.
This year, the share of registered Democrats and unaffiliated voters is up. So is the share of Black voters, who mostly vote Democratic.
Registered Democrats are a little more than 45% of the early voters so far. Unaffiliated voters are 34%. Black voters are just under 23% of the electorate.
The share of Republican voters will likely increase over the next two weeks, as the Republican Party makes a push to get their voters to the polls.
Democrat Roy Cooper is favored to defeat Republican Michael Whatley in the U.S. Senate race. Democrats are hoping his victory is large enough that they also win down-ballot contests such as the state Supreme Court, races for Congress and the state House and Senate.
Overall, 501,321 people have voted early so far, including mail ballots. At this point in the 2022 election, 362,643 people had voted early.
