If one were to examine the electoral map of the 2012 election, they would find that it looks strangely similar to the map of the 2008 election, with a few minor exceptions. President Barack Obama lost a small number of states in this election that he carried in 2008, and one of them was the battleground state of North Carolina. A recent News Observer article cited five reasons that President Obama was not able to continue his success in North Carolina this time around: 1. The sour economy, 2. GOP honed ground game, 3. A slip in urban margins, 4. Back-burner battleground, and 5. Fewer white votes.
A simple breakdown of the five reasons goes like this. First, the sour economy has hit North Carolina harder than the rest of the country. With an unemployment rate hovering around 9.6%, far higher than the national average, the people of North Carolina needed the change that Republican Presidential Nominee Mitt Romney was offering. Second, the GOP ground game was far superior to the Democrat's. With Get Out The Vote efforts being held by Republicans for much longer and employing the service of many more people, it is not surprising that the grassroots campaign of the party prevailed over the Democrats. Third, the slip in the urban margins, does not bode well for any Democratic candidate, who rely on urban voters that tend to be more liberal than their rural counterparts. Fourth, the issue of North Carolina being a back-burner battleground state was certainly obvious. President Obama himself had not made a personal visit to the state since the Democratic National Convention in the summer, indicative of the emphasis that his campaign placed on the state. And lastly, fewer white votes for Obama hurt him. While the President did capture 96% of the African-American vote, they only make up 23% of the state's population, making it impossible for any candidate to win by simply focusing on this particular demographic.
Five Reasons Obama Didn't Carry North Carolina - News Observer
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