Over the past two weeks, the unaffiliated bloc has grown by 23,228, Republicans by 17,656, and Democrats by 13,434. The total of unaffiliated registrations is just 7,862 fewer than the total of Republicans and Democrats combined, and at 41% is more than 3% better than the overall share.

With over 75.35% turnout in the last presidential election, The Center Square projects a record turnout of over 5.8 million to decide the 16 electoral college votes that will go to either Republican Donald Trump or Democrat Kamala Harris. The former president leads the state polls, and the vice president is trying to repeat what only Jimmy Carter in 1976 and Barack Obama in 2008 did in the last 14 elections – the Democratic victory in North Carolina.

For context, Carter and Obama each lost the state four years later. A third state win by Trump would break his tie on a post-Civil War Republican shortlist with George W. Bush, George HW Bush, Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon and Ulysses S. Grant.

The deadline to register to vote in North Carolina was Oct. 11, although same-day registration is allowed during early in-person voting, which began the following Thursday and ends the Saturday before Election Day. Until Saturdayaccording to the State Board of Elections, 56,927 were added to give the state a total of 7,793,041.

Those who register as unaffiliated form the largest voting bloc at 37.8%. Democrats are at 31.3%, Republicans 29.9% – all very different from two decades ago on January 1, 2004when it was 47.6% Democrat, 34.4% Republican and 17.7% unaffiliated.

In 2020, Trump won North Carolina 49.9%-48.6% over the ticket of Joe Biden and Harris. In 2016, Trump won the state 49.8%-46.2% over the ticket of Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine. Trump topped the September and October polls each time.

Trump’s winning margins were 74,483 out of over 5.5 million votes cast in 2020 and 173,315 out of over 4.7 million cast in 2016. Voter turnout in 2016 was 68.98%.

North Carolina is one of seven consensus battleground states that pivot collectively 93 votes to the electoral college. Few preachers believe either candidate can win without the state or Pennsylvania, and may have to take both.

Pennsylvania has 19 electoral college votes, North Carolina and Georgia 16 each, Michigan 15, Arizona 11, Wisconsin 10, and Nevada six.

The 78-year-old Trump has a 20-point platformled by a return to the enforcement of national border security. He chastises Democrats for inflation that, at 2.4 percent, is nearly double — up 71 percent from 1.4 percent — when he left office in January 2021, but considerably lower than the maximum of 9.1% since June 2022 in the era of Bidenomics. Energy independence and “manufacturing superpower” are also high on his list.

Harris, 60, second in command to President Joe Biden, says her main issues are an opportunity economy and lower costs for families. Tax cuts for the middle class, affordable rent and home ownership, and small business growth are also high on her list. On abortion, she favors federal regulation over state authority, meaning a return to Roe v. Wade.