Why does North Carolina tend to vote Republican in presidential elections and Democrat in state elections?
Republican candidates have an advantage in statewide federal elections (U.S. President and U.S. Senate). Democrat Party candidates have the edge in statewide elections for governor and Council of State. In the former, the state’s more conservative interests prevail. In the latter, its progressive tendencies are stronger. In nine of the last ten presidential elections (1968-2004), Republican presidential candidates have won the state’s electoral votes. Only Jimmy Carter has broken this pattern. In seven of the 10 most recent gubernatorial elections, Democratic Party candidates have emerged victorious. Republicans Jim Holshouser (1972) and Jim Martin (1984, 1988) disrupted the Democrats monopoly. In nine of 12 U.S. Senate elections between 1972 and 2004, Republican candidates have won in North Carolina. However, the margins of victory have been narrow in many of these contests, unless an incumbent candidate is running. No state in the United States has been as politically competitive as
