Winston-Salem, NC · how this place’s counties split between candidates in each party’s presidential nominating contest, cycle by cycle. A primary is a contest inside one party, so it has no Democratic–Republican margin and is not part of the general-election record above.
Akashic reports votes cast, not delegates awarded. The two can disagree: Clinton led the 2008 national primary popular vote by less than half a point and did not win the nomination.
Primary returns are published at county grain and there is no roll-up above it. Each cell counts how many of this place’s counties a candidate led — a count of records, not a vote total. Who led the place as a whole is not knowable from these returns, because county rows carry a leader and a lead but no per-candidate votes.
Presidential nominating contests in Winston-Salem, NC, by party and cycle.
○no contest record — Akashic holds no result for that party and cycle here. It is not a claim that no contest was held. Telling apart a contest that was cancelled, one that went uncontested, and one simply not yet ingested needs a nominating-contest calendar, which is a separate ingest from results and does not exist yet.
Republican presidential primaries are not yet ingested — the Republican series runs from 1856 and is in scope. The row is kept so its absence is visible: a Democratic-only panel would otherwise read as though no one else held a contest.
Akashic carries 10 states for 2012 and 3 states for 2024. Cycles in which an incumbent president seeks renomination are thin by nature — few states run a contested primary — so a sparse column is politics, not a hole in the record.
County returns carry a leader and a lead over the runner-up, and nothing more. The full candidate field with vote shares is published at state grain — follow a cycle above to the state contest for it.
voter registration
Registered voters
By party of registration, over time
Party registration · 2024R+9.7
vs
Presidential vote · 2024R+15.6
Registration leans Republican; the presidential vote runs 6.0 points more Republican than the rolls.
DemocraticRepublicanUnaffiliatedOther parties
Voter registration in Winston-Salem, NC
Year
Total registered
Democratic
Republican
Unaffiliated
Other
2008
400,535
158,892
162,446
78,937
260
2012
436,179
162,428
170,858
101,681
1,212
2016
447,423
152,851
170,242
122,422
1,908
2020
475,173
146,583
178,644
146,839
3,107
2022
474,658
139,066
175,700
156,987
2,905
2024
495,062
134,588
182,441
173,157
4,876
domestic migration
Who moves in and out
Net domestic migration over time
+5,477 net domestic migration · 2025
20112025
Net +50,645 over 2011–2025 · gain loss
Domestic migration in Winston-Salem, NC in Winston-Salem, NC: net domestic migration by year
Year
Net domestic migration
2011
+946
2012
+453
2013
+1,595
2014
+1,664
2015
+1,775
2016
+3,306
2017
+4,302
2018
+3,236
2019
+3,808
2021
+6,053
2022
+6,262
2023
+5,984
2024
+5,784
2025
+5,477
Winston-Salem's metro has trended toward competitive margins as college-educated suburban voters shifted in recent cycles, while the city proper—nearly 40% Black—anchors strong Democratic turnout that rural Forsyth precincts partially offset.
Across the recorded series it reached a Democratic high of 29.0 points in 1940 and a Republican high of 43.4 points in 1972. Between 2020 and 2024 the metro moved 1.0 points toward the Republican candidate; the 2024 margin was 15.6 points.
A population of 689,766, a 65% non-Hispanic-white share, and a median household income of $66,414 describe the metro. The metro's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Birmingham, AL and Jacksonville, FL.
Akashic
Political twins — metros
The metros whose fingerprint — 2000–2024 trajectory, demographics, ancestry, religion — sits closest to this one, and why.
Twin score (0–100) = weighted cosine between tier-standardized fingerprints: presidential margins 2000–2024 with 12-yr trend and elasticity, ACS income, age, education, population and race, top reported ancestries, and religious adherence — chips name the closest-shared dimensions and the widest gap. Re-weight the groups in the twins explorer.
Compare two places, side by side
Twelve curated comparisons line up election history, demographics, and the divergence story for two places at a glance. Browse all comparisons →
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All citations released under CC BY 4.0. Attribution: Akashic Intelligence.
Winston-Salem, NC, North Carolina. Akashic. https://akashic.app/cbsa/49180/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
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How did Winston-Salem, NC, North Carolina vote in 2024?
In 2024, Winston-Salem, NC, North Carolina voted Republican by 15.6 points (R+15.6), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 372,600 votes cast, 154,402 went Democratic and 212,636 went Republican.
When did Winston-Salem, NC, North Carolina last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Winston-Salem, NC, North Carolina voted Democratic was 1948.
How many people live in Winston-Salem, NC, North Carolina?
Winston-Salem, NC, North Carolina has a population of 689,766 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Winston-Salem, NC, North Carolina?
Median household income in Winston-Salem, NC, North Carolina is $66,414 — below the national median of $80,734. The North Carolina state median is $72,388.
What is the political history of Winston-Salem, NC, North Carolina?
Akashic tracks 34 presidential elections in Winston-Salem, NC, North Carolina from 1892 to 2024. Of those, 6 went Democratic and 28 went Republican.
