Please read the following table in HTML format from a webpage and then answer the question in detail according to the table. Each table cell is defined by a <td> and a </td> tag. Each table row starts with a <tr> and ends with a </tr> tag. 'rowspan=m' and 'colspan=n' represents a cell spaning over 'm' rows and 'n' columns.

Webpage title:
Mike Easley
Table title:
Electoral history
Table:
<table id='hittask' contenteditable='False'>
<tr> <th colspan=2 rowspan=1 > Party </th><th colspan=1 rowspan=1 > Candidate </th><th colspan=1 rowspan=1 > Votes </th><th colspan=1 rowspan=1 > % </th><th colspan=1 rowspan=1 > ± </th></tr>
<tr> <td colspan=1 rowspan=1 >  </td><td colspan=1 rowspan=1 > Democratic </td><td class="highlighted"  colspan=1 rowspan=1 > Mike Easley </td><td colspan=1 rowspan=1 > 1,453,196 </td><td class="highlighted"  colspan=1 rowspan=1 > 59.07 </td><td colspan=1 rowspan=1 >  </td></tr>
<tr> <td colspan=1 rowspan=1 >  </td><td colspan=1 rowspan=1 > Republican </td><td class="highlighted"  colspan=1 rowspan=1 > Robert Edmunds, Jr. </td><td colspan=1 rowspan=1 > 1,007,027 </td><td class="highlighted"  colspan=1 rowspan=1 > 40.93 </td><td colspan=1 rowspan=1 >  </td></tr>
</table>
Question:
Firstly, which percentage of the vote did Easley garner and comparatively which percentage of the vote did his opponent have? 
Answer:
Easley garnered 59.07% of the vote, compared with opponent Robert Edmonds, Jr.'s 40.93% of votes.