Election 2024: Trump Now +5 in North Carolina

Former President Donald Trump has widened his lead over Vice President Kamala Harris in the battleground state of North Carolina.

A new telephone and online survey by Rasmussen Reports and American Thinker finds that, if the election were held today, 51% of Likely North Carolina voters would vote for Trump, while 46% would vote for Harris. In September, Trump had a three-point lead – 49% to Harris’s 46% – in North Carolina. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Thirty-three percent (33%) of North Carolina voters say the economy is the most important issue in this year’s election, followed by border security (17%) and abortion (12%). However, when asked which issue the next president should address first, illegal immigration is in the top spot (29%), with rising prices (24%), “protecting our democracy” (23%) and abortion rights (22%) following behind.

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The survey of 1,042 North Carolina Likely Voters was conducted on October 9-14, 2024, by Rasmussen Reports and American Thinker. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

In thinking about how the next president will govern the country, 70% of North Carolina voters believe Washington, D.C., is in need of a major change, compared to 24% who think things should return to business as usual in Washington. Among voters who favor a major change in D.C., Trump leads by a 22-point margin, with 60% to Harris’s 38%.

“Voters are deeply distressed by the state of things in America and believe that Trump is the better candidate to address the problems,” American Thinker managing editor Andrea Widburg said of the North Carolina survey results.

Among other findings of the Rasmussen Reports/American Thinker survey of North Carolina voters:

– The “gender gap” is a significant factor in the presidential race, with men favoring Trump by a 14-point margin – 56% to Harris’s 42% – while women voters favor Harris by four-point margin, 51% to Trump’s 47%.

– Fifty-nine percent (59%) of whites, 26% of black voters and 57% of other minorities would vote for Trump, while 39% of whites, 70% of black voters and 42% of other minorities would vote for Harris.

– In the battle to control the U.S. House of Representatives, Republicans have a three-point advantage on the so-called “generic ballot” question in North Carolina, where 48% would vote for Republicans and 45% would vote for Democrats.

– In a state hit hard by Hurricane Helene, 55% of voters approve of the way the Federal Emergency Management Agency has responded to help victims of the hurricane, including 31% who Strongly Approve. Forty-one percent (41%) disapprove of FEMA’s hurricane response, including 27% who Strongly Disapprove. Overwhelmingly, North Carolina voters believe providing for Americans impacted by disasters (80%) should be a higher priority for federal funding than providing assistance for illegal immigrants (12%).

– Forty-one percent (41%) of North Carolina voters say they’re better off than they were four years ago, but a majority (52%) say they’re not better off. Among voters who aren’t better off than they were four years ago, 78% would vote for Trump.

– A significant majority of voters age 50 and older support Trump, while Harris leads by a narrow margin among voters ages 30-49.

– Seventy-two percent (72%) of North Carolina voters are concerned that the outcome of the presidential election will be affected by cheating, including 46% who are Very Concerned that cheating could affect the election.

By a 16-point margin, most U.S. voters answer “no” to a question famously asked by Ronald Reagan in 1980: “Are you better off than you were four years ago?”

Trump has opened a three-point lead over Kamala Harris in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania.

Additional information from this survey and a full demographic breakdown are available to the public as well as to Platinum Members.

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