Beware of an article circulating about North Carolina being evenly divided politically [View all]

[mnhtnbb]

It was even posted by the Institute for Southern Studies,


How North Carolina’s GOP Undid 50 Years of Progress in Less Than 5
Until Republicans took control, the state had long been known as an outpost of Southern progressivism. This year’s elections may indicate whether the state’s shift to the hard right is in step with most voters.
by Chris Kardish | July 2014


http://www.governing.com/topics/politics/gov-north-carolina-southern-progressivism.html



I first saw this article this morning on fb, and when I read the numbers which Gallup (should be a red flag)
quoted (Republicans 41.9% and Democrats 41.3% ) I knew something was fishy. Why? Because I not only
live in NC but have studiously watched the voter registrations--and turnout--over the last 10 years. Sure enough,
when I went on the BOE website this morning to check the numbers (now conveniently hidden since the Republicans
have taken over the state, they were previously right at the top of the home page) I discovered Gallup to be not only off,
but WAY off.

So, I added this comment to the post on fb for the article:

One needs to always fact check numbers, especially if they come from a known Republican polling group (Gallup). From the breakdown of registered Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, Unaffiliated on the NC Board of Elections website, these are the real numbers (6/28/14):

Democrats: 2,753,081 42.2% of registered voters
Republicans: 1,997,609 30.6% of registered voters
Unaffiliated: 1,749,914 26.8% of registered voters
Libertarians 23,852 .4% of registered voters

http://www.ncsbe.gov/webapps/voter_stats/results.aspx...

One doesn't know where Gallup got their numbers as reported in this article:

"While North Carolina is experiencing a huge spike in the number of voters who don’t identify with either party, Gallup routinely finds it to be among the most politically balanced in the country, most recently putting Republicans at 41.9 percent of the population and Democrats at 41.3 percent. "

it's not beyond the realm of possibility that Gallup just made the numbers up to suit the meme that NC is an evenly divided state.
NC Voter Statistics Results
www.ncsbe.gov