In the weeks leading up to the election, young N.C. Republicans had beat their 2020 turnout levels for early voting by 1,600 votes as of Oct. 28, while Democrats saw a drop of around 37,000 votes. Although official statistics on the breakdown of N.C. voters have not been released, according to exit polls, Trump’s share in North Carolina this year went down five percentage points among white voters and up five percentage points among Black voters compared to 2020. However, North Carolina has consistently seen split ballots between presidential and governor’s races — electing a Democratic governor in eight of the last nine election cycles while at the same time swinging red in the presidential election eight out of nine times.