Harris or Trump NC 2024 | Campaigners look for signs in early voting data in battleground North Carolina

RALEIGH, NC (WTVD) — With just days to go before Election Day, we’re getting a better look at early voting data and what it means as North Carolina plays just as big a role as a key battleground state.

With dueling caucuses heading into the weekend, more than half of North Carolina’s registered voters have already weighed in as we’re on track to break records.

As of today, over 50 percent of registered voters have cast a ballot either absentee by mail or in person. In 2020, the total turnout was 75 percent.

The latest statewide data also shows a breakdown of who showed up.

As of Oct. 31 data, 1,306,879 registered Republicans had voted, followed by 1,273,131 unaffiliated voters and 1,256,454 registered Democrats — roughly an even split, but with the GOP holding a slight turnout advantage.

When it comes to race, the turnout so far is 70% white and 18% black, meaning black voters are just under 20% of registered black voters in North Carolina.

SEE ALSO | North Carolina Ballot Tracker

There is also a wide gender map, with women making up 56 percent of the turnout, compared to 44 percent of men.

And while no one has a crystal ball, both parties believe the numbers look promising. For Republicans, they believe their slight advantage in turnout is a result of a shift in strategy toward early voting.

“The biggest thing that continues to be a surprise is you look at every county across North Carolina. There is not a county where Democrats are doing better today than they did four years ago. On their vote numbers are way down. The Republican vote is up, and that’s really a reflection of people who reject Kamala Harris and her message and are ready to move on from the disaster of the last four years,” the NCGOP says -chairman Jason Simmons.

For Democrats, they believe that Republican early voting means fewer red voters on election day. They also believe that the large number of women coming to the polls, combined with unaffiliated voters who they believe will ultimately trend blue is a good sign.

“We’re encouraged by how many women over 55% of the electorate so far for early voting has been a demographic that, frankly, Republicans have been strategically targeting in our state. To make sure they take back the rights that women have earned and that they I want to protect this year at the polls more than anything else, also young voters, even though we’ve seen an extremely large amount of unaffiliated voters, we’ve been talking to them for the last year or two and ensured that young people know who is protecting their rights,” said NC Democratic Party Chairman Anderson Clayton.