Running mate impact in North Carolina

	More likely to vote for Obama	Less likely to vote for Obama	Voting for Obama regardless of running-mate	Voting for McCain regardless of running-mate
Clinton	18	13	32	33
Edwards	19	15	31	32
Easley	11	22	31	32

It seems fairly obvious here that the real question for Obama when considering how to win North Carolina is to weigh his options with both Clinton and Edwards. They both show support from voters in the sense that more of the likely Obama voters will vote for Obama with either of them on the ticket than without, however there is a wider gap between these voters with Clinton. This really just shows that people have slightly stronger feelings overall when it comes to Edwards than with Clinton, since he's a former N.C. Senator.

It doesn't appear to be much of a contest with Easley, since twice as many voters say that they would be less likely to vote for Obama with him on the ticket than more likely.

When broken down by race neither Clinton nor Edwards has an edge since, for example, African Americans responded almost the same with their likelihood of voting for Obama should either of these candidates be chosen as running mates. This isn't necessarily a surprise, but it's still interesting to see that neither candidate has a true lead in the race category.

It seems that overall Clinton would have more support on a national level, but in North Carolina John Edwards seems to be a legitimate contender. If Edwards does pull through, though, it'll be interesting to see if he can correct his 2004 failure of not taking his home state.

Full results here

Post by Curtis Labban, PPP Summer Fellow