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North Carolina gubernatorial election, 2012
 North Carolina's 2012 elections: • U.S. House • Governor • Attorney General • Secretary of State • Other executive offices • State Senate • State House • Ballot measures |
The North Carolina gubernatorial election is scheduled for November 6, 2012. The primary election was held on May 8, 2012.
Early in the election cycle, this year's race was shaping up to be a repeat of 2008, in which Beverly Perdue narrowly defeated Pat McCrory with roughly 50% of the vote. That changed in January 2012, though, when Perdue announced she would not seek a second term in office. Perdue, a first term Democrat and the first female governor in the history of the Tarheel State, had been slipping in the polls and at the time of her announcement was preparing to propose a budget that included a controversial sales tax increase for education. In explaining her decision, Perdue said a bid for re-election would "only further politicize the fight to adequately fund our schools."[1]
Perdue's lieutenant governor, Walter Dalton, declared his intention to run for governor the day after Perdue announced she would not seek re-election.[2] The primary season, short though it was, was a close match but Dalton managed to edge out former Congressman Bob Etheridge and four other candidates.
On the Republican side, Pat McCrory easily defeated five challengers in the primary.
Key dates
| Deadline | Event |
|---|---|
| Feb. 13 - Feb. 29 | Statewide candidate filing |
| Apr. 13 | Voter registration for primary election |
| May 8 | Primary election |
| Oct. 12 | Voter registration for general election |
| Nov. 6 | General election |
Race ratings
| 2011 Race Rankings - North Carolina Governor | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Race Tracker | Race Rating | |||
| The Cook Political Report[3] | Toss-up | |||
| Governing Politics[4] | Lean Republican | |||
| Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball[5] | Toss-up | |||
| Rasmussen Reports Gubernatorial Scorecard[6] | No prediction yet | |||
| The Rothenberg Political Report[7] | Lean Republican | |||
| Overall Call | ||||
Candidates
Walter Dalton (Democrat)
Pat McCrory (Republican)
Barbara Howe (Libertarian)
Results
Results will be posted after the November 6, 2012 general election.
Democratic
| Governor of North Carolina Democratic Primary, 2012 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Walter Dalton |
45.9% | 428,476 |
| Bob Etheridge | 38% | 354,923 |
| Bill Faison | 5.6% | 52,179 |
| Gardenia Henley | 5.2% | 48,982 |
| Gary M. Dunn | 2.9% | 27,358 |
| Bruce Blackmon | 2.4% | 22,370 |
| Total Votes | 934,288 | |
Republican
| Governor of North Carolina Republican Primary, 2012 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Pat McCrory |
83.4% | 748,180 |
| Paul Wright | 5.3% | 47,403 |
| Scott Jones | 3.5% | 31,191 |
| James Mahan | 3.4% | 30,056 |
| Jim Harney | 3% | 26,485 |
| Charles Moss | 1.5% | 13,822 |
| Total Votes | 897,137 | |
Former candidates
| Contents |
|---|
| 1 General |
| 2 Primary |
| 2.1 Democratic |
| 2.2 Republican |
General election polls
| Governor of North Carolina, General election | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Response | Public Policy Polling May 10-13, 2012 | ||||||||
| Walter Dalton | 40% | ||||||||
| Pat McCrory | 46% | ||||||||
| Undecided | 13% | ||||||||
| Number polled | 666 | ||||||||
| Margin of error | +/-3.8 | ||||||||
Between March 8th and 11th, Public Policy Polling surveyed 804 North Carolina voters. The respondents were give hypothetical match-ups between Pat McCrory and the Democratic candidates, and asked which of the two candidates they would vote for.[8]
| Hypothetical match-ups for Governor of North Carolina | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bruce Blackmon | Walter Dalton | Bob Etheridge | Gardenia Henley | |||||
| Percent of the vote | 33% | 35% | 36% | 29% | ||||
| Pat McCrory's percent of the vote | 48% | 46% | 46% | 49% | ||||
| Undecided | 18% | 19% | 18% | 22% | ||||
On April 10, 2012, Pulse Opinion Research, LLC, conducted a telephone survey of 500 likely voters in North Carolina on behalf of Rasmussen Reports. Similar to the Public Policy Polling survey cited above, respondents were given three separate hypothetical situations that matched presumptive Republican candidate Pat McCrory and three Democratic candidates and asked how they would vote in each if the election were held that day.[9]
| Hypothetical match-ups for Governor of North Carolina | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Walter Dalton | Bob Etheridge | Bill Faison | ||||||
| Percent of the vote | 36% | 35% | 30% | |||||
| Pat McCrory's percent of the vote | 45% | 46% | 47% | |||||
Primary polls
Democratic
| Democratic candidates for Governor of North Carolina | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Response | Public Policy Polling February 29-March 1, 2012 | Public Policy Polling March 23-March 25, 2012 | Public Policy Polling April 20-22, 2012 | John W. Pope Civitas Institute April 20-23, 2012 | Average | ||||
| Bruce Blackmon | 5% | 5% | 4% | 3% | 4.25% | ||||
| Walter Dalton | 19% | 15% | 26% | 32% | 23% | ||||
| Gary Dunn | 2% | 4% | 4% | 3% | 3.25% | ||||
| Bob Etheridge | 26% | 26% | 25% | 27% | 26% | ||||
| Bill Faison | 2% | 3% | 5% | 4% | 3.5% | ||||
| Gardenia Henley | 4% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 2.5% | ||||
| Undecided | 41% | 45% | 35% | 27% | 37% | ||||
| Number polled | 499 | 505 | 500 | 448 | 488 | ||||
| Margin of error | +/-4.4 | +/-4.36% | +/-4.4% | +/-4.7% | 4.47% | ||||
| Democratic candidates for Governor of North Carolina (Pre-filing deadline) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Response | Public Policy Polling February 3-5, 2012 | ||||||||
| Walter Dalton | 22% | ||||||||
| Bob Etheridge | 25% | ||||||||
| Bill Faison | 6% | ||||||||
| Dan Blue | 7% | ||||||||
| Not sure | 40% | ||||||||
| Number polled | 400 | ||||||||
| Margin of error | +/-4.9 | ||||||||
Republican
| Republican candidates for Governor of North Carolina | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Response | Public Policy Polling February 29-March 1, 2012 | Public Policy Polling March 22-25, 2012 | Average | ||||||
| Jim Harney | 3% | 2% | 2.5% | ||||||
| Scott Jones | 2% | 1% | 1.5% | ||||||
| Jim Mahan | 2% | 3% | 2.5% | ||||||
| Pat McCrory | 57% | 64% | 60.5% | ||||||
| Charles Moss | 1% | 2% | 1.5% | ||||||
| Paul Wright | 0% | 0% | 0% | ||||||
| Undecided | 35% | 28% | 31.5% | ||||||
| Number polled | 411 | 561 | 486 | ||||||
| Margin of error | +/-4.8 | +/-4.1% | 4.45% | ||||||
Campaign sites
|
Democratic candidates: |
Republican candidates: Libertarian candidate: |
Media
Walter Dalton
The North Carolina State Board of Elections administers campaign finance laws and maintains all records online.
- Gov. Beverly Perdue bows out of 2012 gubernatorial race; opens Democratic field January 26
- 68 days and counting until the North Carolina primary election: Do you know your state executive candidates? March 1
- State executive primary preview: More than Amendment One on the ballot in North Carolina tomorrow May 7
- Six of North Carolina's state executive races headed to a primary runoff May 9
See also
- Governor of North Carolina
- Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina
- North Carolina lieutenant gubernatorial election, 2012
- North Carolina state executive official elections, 2012
- North Carolina down ballot state executive elections, 2012
- State executive official elections, 2012
External links
References
- ↑ Chicago Tribune, "NC Gov. Perdue gives up on 2nd term run; says it would politicize school funding fight," January 26, 2012
- ↑ Watuga Democrat.com, "Walter Dalton announced run for governor," January 27, 2012
- ↑ The Cook Political Report, “Governors: Race Ratings”
- ↑ Governing Politics, “Looking Ahead: The 2011-2012 Gubernatorial Landscape”, December 2, 2010
- ↑ Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball', “2011 Governor Ratings”
- ↑ Rasmussen Reports', “Election 2010: Scorecard Ratings”
- ↑ Rothenberg Political Report, “Governor Ratings”
- ↑ Public Policy Polling, "McCrory tops Etheridge, Dalton by ten to eleven points," retrieved March 19, 2012
- ↑ '"Rasmussen Reports, "Election 2012:North Carolina Governor," accessed April 24, 2012
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