The 1972 United States presidential election in North Carolina took place on November 7, 1972, as part of the 1972 United States presidential election. Voters chose 13 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president. Amidst a nationwide landslide defeat especially felt in the South, McGovern won only two counties in North Carolina, neither of which have voted for a Republican presidential candidate since the Fourth Party System era: Orange County in the Research Triangle region, home of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and majority-Black Northampton County in the northeast of the state. Even in these counties, where most Democratic candidates receive over sixty percent of the vote (and where Walter Mondale in 1984 would still win by double digits), McGovern won by less than five points. 78% of white voters supported Nixon, while only 20% supported McGovern. 1972 was the first election in which a presidential candidate received more than one million votes in North Carolina, and remains the best Republican presidential performance in its history. As of the 2024 presidential election, this is also the last election in which Bertie, Durham, Edgecombe, Halifax, Hertford, Hoke, Warren, or Washington counties voted for the Republican candidate. Richmond and Robeson counties would not vote Republican again until 2016, and Anson county not until 2024.

Primaries

Democratic

Alabama Governor, George Wallace, would defeat favorite son candidate, Terry Sanford.

Republican

Campaign

Polls

Results

By county

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

Counties that flipped from American Independent to Republican