Republicans and independents are outvoting Democrats in North Carolina, according to the latest data.
Early voting numbers out of battleground North Carolina are concerning for Democrats, as Republicans have boasted a strong performance thus far. On the first day of early voting in the state, Republicans saw an 18-point shift from figures seen on the first day of early voting in 2020. Republicans saw 353,166 ballots cast, besting the previous record made in 2020 with 348,559 ballots cast.
Overall, Republicans have led the charge in the state with early voting, and currently, Republican votes are outnumbering Democrats’ — 1,148,634 to the Democrats’ 1,106,358. Perhaps what is more, independents are also outnumbering Democrats with 1,113,426 ballots cast.
“North Carolina added 266,000 votes in this morning’s report, bringing their total vote to 3.37 million. This represents roughly 62% of the expected electorate,” Decision Desk HQ’s Michael Pruser wrote, sharing the breakdown and noting that “Democrats are now third in total turnout and will likely stay there for the remainder of the early voting period.”
“Four days remain to vote early in person, and while we will not reach the 4.63 million early votes we saw in 2020, we should be able to break 4.2 million,” he continued.
This reality follows an update from Donald Trump Jr. on October 19, telling Breitbart News Saturday that Americans are showing up to vote in hard-hit areas — including western North Carolina — in record numbers.
“This week, I was in Michigan, I was in Arizona, I was in North Carolina twice, both visiting the damage as well as doing get-out-the-vote stuff. All of that stuff looked really positive,” he said.
WATCH — Massive Line Appears for Early Voting in Apex, North Carolina:
“I saw the same thing in North Carolina. I was visiting some of the places that the hurricane destroyed. And, you know, I didn’t even want to ask them what they’re doing about voting. And it turns out, Yancy County, where I was, where I saw incredible damage, where FEMA was totally missing. I mean, these people are voting in record numbers,” he revealed.
“They lost loved ones. They lost homes, and they’re like, they would crawl through broken glass right now to vote because they understand their government is failing … so people are getting it. We just can’t take anything for granted,” Trump Jr. concluded.
Wednesday’s RealClearPolitics average of polls shows former President Donald Trump leading by an average of one percentage point in North Carolina.