Ticket splitters back to normal

Earlier in the fall we picked up on a somewhat surprising trend: more North Carolinians were planning to vote Democratic for President and Republican for Governor than the other way around, bucking the state's overwhelming historic trend.

Now those numbers seem to be going back to normal. Three weeks ago 54% of people planning to vote Democratic for one office and Republican for the other when it came to President and Governor were planning to vote for Barack Obama and Pat McCrory. Now 66% are going with the more traditional combination of John McCain and Bev Perdue.

This return to form is largely a function of both Barack Obama and Pat McCrory struggling to overcome obstacles to their candidacies in eastern North Carolina. 56% of the McCain/Perdue voters come from the east.

Although there has been a lot of bluster about voters going for Obama and McCrory because they want change across the board, the reality is that fewer than 3% of North Carolina voters are planning to choose that particular ticket.