In exclusive new polling commissioned by the Due Diligence for Capitol Affairs’ Battleground State Series, Mitt Romney is leading in North Carolina, one of 10 key swing states Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are vying for in the race for president. In the poll, the former governor of Massachusetts is beating the incumbent president by five points, 49 percent to 44 percent, with a margin of error of just over 3 percent.
The candidates come close in their popularity among younger voters though President Obama remains strong among women and ethnic minorities. Meanwhile Democrats appear less enthused in their vote.
Due Diligence commissioned Illumination Multimedia to survey voters in North Carolina. Illumination used an automated calling and touchtone response system to ask 1,205 likely voters about their preferences in the 2012 presidential election. Responses were collected between October 18 and October 19, 2012. Vote totals were then cross-tabulated by age, race, gender and party.
The poll found that Mitt Romney is slightly more popular among younger voters, a divergent trend from 2008 when younger voters played a significant role in president Obama’s successful bid for the White House. About 46 percent of voters between the ages of 18 and 29 years old are planning to vote for the former governor, three points over Obama’s 43 percent. However, the result falls within the margin of error for that question making it a statistical dead heat.
Additionally, 11 percent of those voters are still undecided or are planning on supporting a third party – such as Libertarian or Green. The president performs best among North Carolinians between the ages of 30 and 49 and very poorly among those over 65 who are planning on voting for Romney by a 20-point margin.
The 2012 race for president continues to maintain a divide between different races with 61 percent of White voters in North Carolina planning on voting for Mitt Romney and 81 percent of African-American voters preferring Barack Obama. Those of Asian and other ethnicities are more evenly split.
Similarly, a gender divide persists with 54 percent of men supporting Mitt Romney (compared to 39 percent going for Barack Obama) and 49 percent of women voting for Obama (compared to 45 percent for Romney).
The breakdown of votes for president by party reflects a lack of enthusiasm for the president with only 79 percent of Democrats planning on voting for their party’s candidate compared to 89 percent of Republicans who will vote for their own. More than 5 percent of Democrats are also unsure of who they will vote for president while only 3 percent of Republicans are similarly situated. Independent and third party candidates are also voting for Mitt Romney by a 20-point margin (53 percent to 33 percent).
You can download the full results below:
Due Diligence American Edition North Carolina Polling Results
