College transcript

North Carolina hasn't voted for a Democrat for president since 1976.

Even then, the vote for Jimmy Carter was an anomaly caused in part by Watergate. The state pretty much switched to voting for Republican presidents in 1968 with the triumph of Richard Nixon's "Southern strategy."

Before then, the state was fairly consistently Democratic in its national choice. From 1876 to 1968, only one Republican — Herbert Hoover in 1928 — won North Carolina.

The record is of interest because the General Assembly may change how the state's Electoral College votes are distributed.

The shift to awarding electors by Congressional District wouldn't be under discussion at all if North Carolina didn't have a split political personality — putting Democrats in the legislature and the Governor's Mansion while voting for Republicans for president.

After the jump, a quick list of the state's presidential choices.

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Democrats in blue; Republicans in red; Whigs in green.

1836: Martin Van Buren
1840: William Henry Harrison
1844: Henry Clay
1848: Zachary Taylor
1852: Franklin Pierce
1856: James Buchanan
1860: John Breckinridge
1864: *
1868: Ulysses S. Grant
1872: Ulysses S. Grant
1876: Samuel Tilden
1880: Winfield Hancock
1884: Grover Cleveland
1888: Grover Cleveland
1892: Grover Cleveland
1896: William Jennings Bryan
1900: William Jennings Bryan
1904: Alton B. Parker
1908: William Jennings Bryan
1912: Woodrow Wilson
1916: Woodrow Wilson
1920: James M. Cox
1924: John W. Davis
1928: Herbert Hoover
1932: Franklin Roosevelt
1936: Franklin Roosevelt
1940: Franklin Roosevelt
1944: Franklin Roosevelt
1948: Harry Truman
1952: Adlai Stevenson
1956: Adlai Stevenson
1960: John F. Kennedy
1964: Lyndon B. Johnson
1968: Richard M. Nixon
1972: Richard M. Nixon
1976: Jimmy Carter
1980: Ronald Reagan
1984: Ronald Reagan
1988: George H.W. Bush
1992: George H.W. Bush
1996: Bob Dole
2000: George W. Bush
2004: George W. Bush

* As a member of the Confederacy, North Carolina did not participate in the 1864 presidential election.