The 1944 United States presidential election in North Carolina took place on November 7, 1944, as part of the 1944 United States presidential election. North Carolina voters chose 14 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

As a former Confederate state, North Carolina had a history of Jim Crow laws, disfranchisement of its African-American population and dominance of the Democratic Party in state politics. However, unlike the Deep South, the Republican Party had sufficient historic Unionist white support from the mountains and northwestern Piedmont to gain one-third of the statewide vote total in most general elections, where turnout was higher than elsewhere in the former Confederacy due substantially to the state's early abolition of the poll tax in 1920. Like Virginia, Tennessee and Oklahoma, the relative strength of Republican opposition meant that North Carolina did not have statewide white primaries, although certain counties did use the white primary. A rapid move following disenfranchisement to a completely “lily-white” state GOP also helped maintain Republican support.

In 1928, anti-Catholicism in the Outer Banks and growing middle-class urban Republicanism in Piedmont cities turned North Carolina to GOP nominee Herbert Hoover,Phillips. The Emerging Republican Majority, pp. 212-215 but this was sharply and severely reversed with the coming of the Great Depression. With the South having the highest unemployment in the nation and blaming its fate upon the North and Wall Street, exceptionally heavy support was given to Democratic nominee Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932 and 1936 everywhere except in a few rock-ribbed Republican mountain bastions. Nevertheless, there was virtually no change to the state's social structure during the New Deal,See and the conservative “Shelby Dynasty” was strong enough to prevent any populist challenge so much as developing. Additionally, the state was among the least isolationist and strongly supported aid to Britain during the early phase of World War II,See while the absence of a statewide white primary meant local response to the landmark court case of Smith v. Allwright was generally calm. However, the precarious health of incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt produced strong Southern opposition to vice-president Henry A. Wallace, who was viewed as a dangerous liberal throughout the region. Initially the South attempted to have former Supreme Court Justice James F. Byrnes replace Wallace, but Byrnes was unacceptable because of his lapsed Catholicism to the northern Catholic urban bosses, and also to the party's union backers. Consequently, Missouri Senator Harry S. Truman became Roosevelt's running mate.

Polls were not taken in the state, but less than a week before the poll there were appeals to state Democrats to not support FDR for a fourth term.

Results

Results by county +1944 United States presidential election in North Carolina by countyCountyFranklin Delano RooseveltDemocraticThomas Edmund DeweyRepublicanMargin % # % # % # Martin 97.07% 4,408 2.93% 133 94.14% 4,275 Bertie 96.20% 3,142 3.80% 124 92.41% 3,018 Greene 95.72% 2,528 4.28% 113 91.44% 2,415 Northampton 95.28% 3,470 4.72% 172 90.55% 3,298 Pitt 94.53% 8,556 5.47% 495 89.06% 8,061 Hertford 94.11% 1,996 5.89% 125 88.21% 1,871 Halifax 94.08% 6,989 5.92% 440 88.15% 6,549 Edgecombe 93.79% 6,762 6.21% 448 87.57% 6,314 Franklin 93.21% 3,967 6.79% 289 86.42% 3,678 Hoke 91.76% 1,782 8.24% 160 83.52% 1,622 Warren 91.11% 2,480 8.89% 242 82.22% 2,238 Granville 90.82% 3,215 9.18% 325 81.64% 2,890 Lenoir 90.46% 5,253 9.54% 554 80.92% 4,699 Nash 89.64% 7,577 10.36% 876 79.27% 6,701 Wilson 89.39% 6,480 10.61% 769 78.78% 5,711 Chowan 88.78% 1,314 11.22% 166 77.57% 1,148 Scotland 88.67% 2,372 11.33% 303 77.35% 2,069 Vance 88.62% 4,110 11.38% 528 77.23% 3,582 Gates 87.84% 1,105 12.16% 153 75.68% 952 Anson 87.54% 3,582 12.46% 510 75.07% 3,072 Robeson 86.68% 7,278 13.32% 1,118 73.37% 6,160 Onslow 86.23% 2,711 13.77% 433 72.46% 2,278 Craven 85.50% 4,872 14.50% 826 71.01% 4,046 Jones 85.27% 1,221 14.73% 211 70.53% 1,010 Richmond 85.19% 5,394 14.81% 938 70.37% 4,456 Union 83.72% 5,729 16.28% 1,114 67.44% 4,615 Currituck 81.95% 1,049 18.05% 231 63.91% 818 Wake 81.87% 18,050 18.13% 3,996 63.75% 14,054 Lee 81.02% 3,448 18.98% 808 62.03% 2,640 Beaufort 80.60% 4,706 19.40% 1,133 61.19% 3,573 Person 80.51% 2,507 19.49% 607 61.01% 1,900 Pender 79.71% 1,732 20.29% 441 59.41% 1,291 Caswell 79.63% 1,923 20.37% 492 59.25% 1,431 Duplin 79.18% 5,464 20.82% 1,437 58.35% 4,027 Camden 78.91% 722 21.09% 193 57.81% 529 Dare 78.86% 966 21.14% 259 57.71% 707 Columbus 78.65% 5,717 21.35% 1,552 57.30% 4,165 Perquimans 78.30% 960 21.70% 266 56.61% 694 Washington 78.19% 1,782 21.81% 497 56.38% 1,285 Bladen 77.67% 2,542 22.33% 731 55.33% 1,811 Durham 77.57% 12,763 22.43% 3,690 55.14% 9,073 New Hanover 76.99% 9,467 23.01% 2,829 53.99% 6,638 Cumberland 76.66% 6,615 23.34% 2,014 53.32% 4,601 Wayne 76.49% 6,228 23.51% 1,914 52.98% 4,314 Cleveland 75.61% 8,170 24.39% 2,636 51.21% 5,534 Pasquotank 74.71% 2,540 25.29% 860 49.41% 1,680 Rockingham 74.33% 8,755 25.67% 3,024 48.65% 5,731 Hyde 74.10% 924 25.90% 323 48.20% 601 Mecklenburg 73.34% 25,950 26.66% 9,434 46.68% 16,516 Haywood 72.65% 7,755 27.35% 2,919 45.31% 4,836 Gaston 69.53% 13,744 30.47% 6,023 39.06% 7,721 Orange 69.06% 3,274 30.94% 1,467 38.11% 1,807 Carteret 69.02% 3,489 30.98% 1,566 38.04% 1,923 Buncombe 68.96% 20,878 31.04% 9,398 37.92% 11,480 Tyrrell 68.50% 611 31.50% 281 37.00% 330 Cabarrus 68.17% 9,064 31.83% 4,233 36.33% 4,831 Harnett 67.34% 6,579 32.66% 3,191 34.68% 3,388 Johnston 65.19% 8,282 34.81% 4,423 30.37% 3,859 Alamance 64.86% 9,184 35.14% 4,976 29.72% 4,208 Guilford 64.45% 23,495 35.55% 12,962 28.89% 10,533 Pamlico 64.30% 1,295 35.70% 719 28.60% 576 McDowell 63.96% 4,008 36.04% 2,258 27.93% 1,750 Iredell 63.21% 8,358 36.79% 4,864 26.43% 3,494 Rowan 62.38% 9,721 37.62% 5,862 24.76% 3,859 Forsyth 62.07% 16,390 37.93% 10,014 24.15% 6,376 Chatham 61.33% 3,856 38.67% 2,431 22.67% 1,425 Rutherford 61.10% 7,379 38.90% 4,698 22.20% 2,681 Jackson 60.40% 4,109 39.60% 2,694 20.80% 1,415 Surry 60.02% 7,679 39.98% 5,116 20.03% 2,563 Catawba 58.45% 10,146 41.55% 7,211 16.91% 2,935 Swain 58.37% 2,110 41.63% 1,505 16.74% 605 Polk 58.24% 2,340 41.76% 1,678 16.48% 662 Moore 58.22% 3,711 41.78% 2,663 16.44% 1,048 Graham 58.21% 1,889 41.79% 1,356 16.43% 533 Yancey 57.88% 3,301 42.12% 2,402 15.76% 899 Montgomery 57.58% 2,665 42.42% 1,963 15.17% 702 Transylvania 57.29% 3,019 42.71% 2,251 14.57% 768 Caldwell 55.39% 5,419 44.61% 4,365 10.77% 1,054 Henderson 55.18% 5,679 44.82% 4,613 10.36% 1,066 Stokes 54.90% 4,110 45.10% 3,376 9.80% 734 Alleghany 54.77% 1,810 45.23% 1,495 9.53% 315 Brunswick 54.02% 2,346 45.98% 1,997 8.04% 349 Burke 53.72% 6,795 46.28% 5,855 7.43% 940 Macon 53.22% 2,855 46.78% 2,510 6.43% 345 Lincoln 53.12% 4,168 46.88% 3,678 6.25% 490 Davidson 50.03% 9,455 49.97% 9,445 0.05% 10 Clay 49.64% 1,245 50.36% 1,263 -0.72% -18 Cherokee 49.59% 2,582 50.41% 2,625 -0.83% -43 Ashe 49.09% 4,363 50.91% 4,524 -1.81% -161 Stanly 47.48% 5,499 52.52% 6,083 -5.04% -584 Randolph 45.61% 7,277 54.39% 8,678 -8.78% -1,401 Watauga 44.84% 3,214 55.16% 3,954 -10.32% -740 Alexander 43.44% 2,282 56.56% 2,971 -13.12% -689 Davie 41.13% 2,266 58.87% 3,244 -17.75% -978 Sampson 41.04% 4,220 58.96% 6,062 -17.91% -1,842 Wilkes 37.99% 5,587 62.01% 9,121 -24.03% -3,534 Yadkin 36.00% 2,470 64.00% 4,392 -28.01% -1,922 Madison 34.30% 2,291 65.70% 4,388 -31.40% -2,097 Mitchell 24.29% 1,024 75.71% 3,192 -51.42% -2,168 Avery 20.87% 838 79.13% 3,178 -58.27% -2,340

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican Alexander Ashe Clay Cherokee Davie Stanly Randolph

Analysis North Carolina was won by Roosevelt with 66.71 percent of the popular vote, against Governor Thomas E. Dewey (R–New York), running with Governor John Bricker with 33.29 percent.

This was nonetheless a decline of over fifteen percentage points upon Roosevelt's 1940 performance, reflecting the significant isolationism in Appalachia,Phillips. The Emerging Republican Majority, pp. 215, 289 alongside developing hostility towards Democratic liberalism on racial issues. , this is the last election in which the following counties voted for a Democratic presidential candidate: Catawba, Davidson and Henderson.

References