Voter turnout disparity for state offices not surprising, says Cape Fear political science instructor

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — As results came in for Tuesday’s primary, a difference in voter turnout between the parties became apparent.

Republicans came out to the polls in higher numbers than Democrats, especially for state offices.

More than 1 million people voted for Republican candidates for governor, while less than 700,000 voted for Democratic candidates.

And Republican candidates for Lieutenant Governor had close to 250,000 more total votes than the Democratic candidates.

State Senator Rachel Hunt, the daughter of former Governor Jim Hunt, won the Democratic nomination, but the Republican primary appears to be headed to a runoff on May 14th.

Nelson Beaulieu, a political science instructor at Cape Fear Community College, said such large differences in voter turnout between the parties are not surprising to see.

“This, this is something that’s kind of typical when you have a Democratic incumbent or a Republican incumbent,” Beaulieu said. “Usually on the side of the incumbent in the White House, you see lower turnout. There’s not real data that suggests that that is a trend or an issue. What it means is that on March the 5th, Republicans were more motivated to go to the polls than Democrats but extrapolating any further than that I think would be a pretty big mistake.”

Beaulieu said it is not worth trying to use the difference in the primary voter turnout to predict turnout for the general election 8 months out.