Talk Elections

Presidential Elections - Analysis and Discussion => 2008 U.S. Presidential Election Results => Topic started by: HAnnA MArin County on January 21, 2010, 03:31:44 AM



Title: Most Republican County in Each State in 2008
Post by: HAnnA MArin County on January 21, 2010, 03:31:44 AM
What I've done is taken the one county in each state that gave John McCain his largest margin of victory over Barack Obama in 2008 and have listed them below. I'd like to get some explanation/analyses as to why each of the following counties went so strongly Republican. Let's see if we can get a good discussion going on this.

1. King County, Texas (McCain 92.64 - Obama 4.91 = R + 87.73)
2. Beaver County, Oklahoma (McCain 89.25 - Obama 10.75 = R + 78.50)
3. Grant County, Nebraska (McCain 86.65 - Obama 11.17 = R + 75.48)
4. Wallace County, Kansas (McCain 85.82 - Obama 11.94 = R + 73.88)
5. Madison County, Idaho (McCain 85.24 - Obama 12.46 = R + 72.78)
6. La Salle Parish, Louisiana (McCain 85.49 - Obama 13.12 = R + 72.37)
7. Jackson County, Kentucky (McCain 84.36 - Obama 14.22 = R + 70.14)
8. Blount County, Alabama (McCain 84.02 - Obama 14.51 = R + 69.51)
9. Glascock County, Georgia (McCain 84.17 - Obama 14.71 = R + 69.46)
10. Uintah County, Utah (McCain 82.84 - Obama 14.35 = R + 68.49)
11. Garfield County, Montana (McCain 82.26 - Obama 15.13 = R + 67.13)
12. George County, Mississippi (McCain 82.49 - Obama 16.41 = R + 66.08)
13. Haakon County, South Dakota (McCain 81.44 - Obama 16.22 = R + 65.22)
14. Holmes County, Florida (McCain 81.63 - Obama 16.78 = R + 64.85)
15. Crook County, Wyoming (McCain 80.56 - Obama 16.62 = R + 63.94)
16. Sioux County, Iowa (McCain 80.95 - Obama 18.18 = R + 62.77)
17. Cheyenne County, Colorado (McCain 80.11 - Obama 17.82 = R + 62.29)
18. Eureka County, Nevada (McCain 75.70 - Obama 19.13 = R + 56.37)
19. Billings County, North Dakota (McCain 75.15 - Obama 22.85 = R + 52.30)
20. Grant County, West Virginia (McCain 75.06 - Obama 23.64 = R + 51.42)
21. Grant County, Arkansas (McCain 73.94 - Obama 22.99 = R + 50.95)
22. Barton County, Missouri (McCain 74.21 - Obama 24.46 = R + 49.75)
23. Bradley County, Tennessee (McCain 74.19 - Obama 24.50 = R + 49.69)
24. Fulton County, Pennsylvania (McCain 73.61 - Obama 24.99 = R + 48.62)
25. Pickens County, South Carolina (McCain 72.13 - Obama 25.91 = R + 46.22)
26. Yadkin County, North Carolina (McCain 72.37 - Obama 26.40 = R + 45.97)
27. Lake County, Oregon (McCain 71.53 - Obama 25.95 = R + 45.58)
28. Lea County, New Mexico (McCain 71.58 - Obama 27.40 = R + 44.18)
29. Mercer County, Ohio (McCain 70.90 - Obama 27.48 = R + 43.42)
30. Scott County, Virginia (McCain 70.68 - Obama 27.59 = R + 43.09)
31. Garfield County, Washington (McCain 70.50 - Obama 28.04 = R + 42.46)
32. Graham County, Arizona (McCain 69.40 - Obama 28.89 = R + 40.51)
33. Garrett County, Maryland (McCain 69.17 - Obama 29.02 = R + 40.15)
34. Modoc County, California (McCain 67.44 - Obama 29.71 = R + 37.73)
35. Kosciusko County, Indiana (McCain 67.99 - Obama 30.65 = R + 37.34)
36. Effingham County, Illinois (McCain 67.26 - Obama 31.26 = R + 36.00)
37. Washington County, Wisconsin (McCain 64.14 - Obama 34.56 = R + 29.58)
38. Hamilton County, New York (McCain 62.77 - Obama 35.91 = R + 26.86)
39. Ottawa County, Michigan (McCain 61.03 - Obama 37.23 = R + 23.80)
40. Sussex County, New Jersey (McCain 59.37 - Obama 38.75 = R + 20.62)
41. Sibley County, Minnesota (McCain 58.12 - Obama 38.79 = R + 19.33)
42. Sussex County, Delaware (McCain 53.82 - Obama 45.24 = R + 8.58)
43. Piscataquis County, Maine (McCain 50.72 - Obama 46.96 = R + 3.76)

Note:
I didn't include Alaska because I didn't have the results by borough/precinct.
*McCain didn't win any counties in Connecticut, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, or Vermont. If anyone wishes to post the results in these states by town/township/precinct/borough etc., feel free to do so.


Title: Re: Most Republican County in Each State in 2008
Post by: Smash255 on January 21, 2010, 04:13:49 AM
It has been discussed before, but La Salle Parish Louisiana is VERY racist.


Title: Re: Most Republican County in Each State in 2008
Post by: HAnnA MArin County on January 21, 2010, 05:59:19 AM
It has been discussed before, but La Salle Parish Louisiana is VERY racist.

Yeah, you're right. I figure race had a lot to do with those lopsided results in La Salle Parish, which is (as well all know) the infamous location of the Jena Six.


Title: Re: Most Republican County in Each State in 2008
Post by: minionofmidas on January 21, 2010, 06:20:24 AM
It's more like, it's got remarkably few Blacks for a place full of quintessential Blackbelt Whites. (I mean, that's what makes the result stick out. If it were 30% or 50% Black, it'd be just 70% or 50% Republican and not appear on the list.)


Title: Re: Most Republican County in Each State in 2008
Post by: Filuwaúrdjan on January 22, 2010, 08:58:12 AM
I like all those Grant counties there.


Title: Re: Most Republican County in Each State in 2008
Post by: platypeanArchcow on January 22, 2010, 04:05:31 PM

3 Grants and 2 Garfields.  Impressive.


Title: Re: Most Republican County in Each State in 2008
Post by: Kaine for Senate '18 on January 22, 2010, 04:30:41 PM
McCain broke 70% in at least one county in 31 states; Obama in only 25 states.  Interesting.


Title: Re: Most Republican County in Each State in 2008
Post by: Devilman88 on January 22, 2010, 04:38:07 PM
Yadkin County, North Carolina: This county is a very Republican County, always have been..


Title: Re: Most Republican County in Each State in 2008
Post by: DariusNJ on January 22, 2010, 04:41:03 PM
It's more like, it's got remarkably few Blacks for a place full of quintessential Blackbelt Whites.

aka, racist whites.


Title: Re: Most Republican County in Each State in 2008
Post by: Kaine for Senate '18 on January 22, 2010, 04:43:33 PM
Yadkin County, North Carolina: This county is a very Republican County, always have been..

Largely the same for Scott County, VA.  Warner won it in 2008, but Allen slaughtered Webb there in 2006, and it gave Bush 67% in 2004.  It's also in SW Virginia, where Obama did very poorly.


Title: Re: Most Republican County in Each State in 2008
Post by: DariusNJ on January 22, 2010, 04:47:42 PM
1. King County, Texas (McCain 92.64 - Obama 4.91 = R + 87.73)

Remote county in North Texas, has been strongly Republican for some time.

2. Beaver County, Oklahoma (McCain 89.25 - Obama 10.75 = R + 78.50)

Another county, just like King. North Texas and the Oklahoma Panhandle counties vote overwhelmingly Republican.


6. La Salle Parish, Louisiana (McCain 85.49 - Obama 13.12 = R + 72.37)

85% deep southern whites, 15% black. Home of the Jena 6.

8. Blount County, Alabama (McCain 84.02 - Obama 14.51 = R + 69.51)

If I'm correct, this is a white flight suburb of Birmingham. Actually has a pretty large population in comparison to some other counties on this list.

9. Glascock County, Georgia (McCain 84.17 - Obama 14.71 = R + 69.46)

Mostly white exurb of Atlanta, I believe.

10. Uintah County, Utah (McCain 82.84 - Obama 14.35 = R + 68.49)

Mormons I'm guessing.

12. George County, Mississippi (McCain 82.49 - Obama 16.41 = R + 66.08)

Heavily white county in the Deep South.

16. Sioux County, Iowa (McCain 80.95 - Obama 18.18 = R + 62.77)

There is a large religious group here, I forgot the name. This county is VERY Republican on all levels.


18. Eureka County, Nevada (McCain 75.70 - Obama 19.13 = R + 56.37)

Rural county, I'm guessing there's some Mormons here, I could be wrong.


Title: Re: Most Republican County in Each State in 2008
Post by: Nym90 on January 22, 2010, 06:16:16 PM
Most Republican county in...

CT--Litchfield, Obama 51.57 McCain 46.66
HI--Honolulu, Obama 69.83 McCain 28.74
MA--Plymouth, Obama 52.77 McCain 45.19
NH--Rockingham, Obama 49.89 McCain 48.81
RI--Kent, Obama 57.58 McCain 40.18
VT--Essex, Obama 55.89 McCain 41.41


Title: Re: Most Republican County in Each State in 2008
Post by: HAnnA MArin County on January 23, 2010, 03:17:19 AM
George County, Mississippi seems to mimic its racist neighbor to the west in La Salle Parish, Louisiana.

According to the county's Wikipedia page:
"The county has gone solidly Republican in the last five presidential elections In past presidential elections third party candidates sometimes did well here. In 1968, George Wallace won the county with over 90% of the vote, which was the second highest percentage he received in any county. In 1988 the county gave David Duke 4.21%, which was the highest percentage he received. In that election it also gave more support to Lenora Fulani than she received in most of the nation."

George Wallace = former Governor of Alabama (D) who ran as a pro-segregationist Independent.

David Duke = former Louisiana State Representative (R) and former Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan

However, interesting about Lenora Fulani = an American psychologist, psychotherapist, and political activist. She may be best known for her presidential campaigns and development of youth programs serving minority communities in the New York City area. In the presidential election of 1988, heading the New Alliance Party ticket, she became the first woman and the first African American to achieve ballot access in all 50 states. She received more votes for President in a U.S. general election than any other woman in history. Fulani's political concerns include racial equality, gay rights and for the past decade, political reform, specifically to encourage third parties.

Maybe it's not a racist county? Who knows.


Title: Re: Most Republican County in Each State in 2008
Post by: SvenssonRS on January 23, 2010, 04:13:24 AM
I find the fact that my state's reddest county is named Crook. No offense to the Republicans, but that's just hilarious.


Title: Re: Most Republican County in Each State in 2008
Post by: Husker on January 23, 2010, 12:01:18 PM
Grant County, NE has less than 1,000 people. The north central and west central part of NE is considered the Sandhills, which is the largest preserved natural prairie left in North America. It is very sparsely populated and many counties have less than 1,000 people. Ranching is about the only source of income here and ranchers have been voting republican for generations. If you consider counties with populations over 20,000 people, then our most republican county would be down around 70%, if that.



Title: Re: Most Republican County in Each State in 2008
Post by: HAnnA MArin County on January 23, 2010, 08:28:18 PM
I find the fact that my state's reddest county is named Crook. No offense to the Republicans, but that's just hilarious.

Maybe it's in honor of Dick Cheney. :P


Title: Re: Most Republican County in Each State in 2008
Post by: minionofmidas on January 24, 2010, 05:09:46 AM
It's more like, it's got remarkably few Blacks for a place full of quintessential Blackbelt Whites.

aka, racist whites.
A specific type of racist Whites. :P


Title: Re: Most Republican County in Each State in 2008
Post by: SvenssonRS on January 24, 2010, 04:38:21 PM
I find the fact that my state's reddest county is named Crook. No offense to the Republicans, but that's just hilarious.

Maybe it's in honor of Dick Cheney. :P

Ha, I wouldn't be surprised. This is, after all, the same state that gave birth to a town named Yoder.


Title: Re: Most Republican County in Each State in 2008
Post by: nclib on January 24, 2010, 06:22:09 PM
Certainly ultra-Republican counties are far less distinctive than ultra-Democratic counties. It's likely that most of the counties in sparsely populated states that are on the list, are not dramatically more Republican than some counties they border.


Title: Re: Most Republican County in Each State in 2008
Post by: Linus Van Pelt on January 26, 2010, 04:12:01 PM
I don't know all these counties by any means, but it seems that Sussex NJ is the only one where wealth is the key factor. Although one might say this about Washington WI, in a kind of different way.


Title: Re: Most Republican County in Each State in 2008
Post by: Verily on January 26, 2010, 05:03:08 PM
I don't know all these counties by any means, but it seems that Sussex NJ is the only one where wealth is the key factor. Although one might say this about Washington WI, in a kind of different way.

Indeed. The list is a remarkable sign of the decoupling of upper-middle class status and Republicanism, or alternatively lower-middle class status and Democratic-ness, since the 1970s, as well as a remarkable sign of the modern and increasingly strong urban-rural divide.


Title: Re: Most Republican County in Each State in 2008
Post by: JoeyJoeJoe on January 30, 2010, 05:29:29 PM
Some of those surprised me, given how they've voted in the past.  In most elections, I'd just assume that Harding County SD, Cimarron County OK, Arthur County NE, Malheur County OR, and Shelby County AL (to name a couple) will be the most Republican in the state.


Title: Re: Most Republican County in Each State in 2008
Post by: Bo on January 30, 2010, 06:01:54 PM
Yadkin County, North Carolina: This county is a very Republican County, always have been..

Largely the same for Scott County, VA.  Warner won it in 2008, but Allen slaughtered Webb there in 2006, and it gave Bush 67% in 2004.  It's also in SW Virginia, where Obama did very poorly.

I think that Hillary would have done much better in rural Appalachia (like SW Virginia). A lot of people there don't like Chicago libruls and black people.


Title: Re: Most Republican County in Each State in 2008
Post by: HAnnA MArin County on February 03, 2010, 01:11:38 AM
Yadkin County, North Carolina: This county is a very Republican County, always have been..

Largely the same for Scott County, VA.  Warner won it in 2008, but Allen slaughtered Webb there in 2006, and it gave Bush 67% in 2004.  It's also in SW Virginia, where Obama did very poorly.

I think that Hillary would have done much better in rural Appalachia (like SW Virginia). A lot of people there don't like Chicago libruls and black people.


Of course. Southwest Virginia is in the 9th Congressional District, and is a part of Appalachia if I'm not mistaken, is more like West Virginia, if you will. The 9th was the only congressional district Hillary won in the Virginia Primary, and I think it was pretty strongly like 60-70% for her, and the 9th also gave McCain his largest margin of victory of all 11 congressional districts in Virginia. This is an area where the Sarah Palin pick probably helped McCain (i.e. Obama is a terrorist sympathizer who hates America, a Muslim, etc.) to a large extent, seeing as how Obama won a couple CDs held by Republicans (VA-04 and VA-10, I think). Hillary would have been much more competitive in Southwest Virginia, I agree, since she was painted as a more traditional and conservative Democrat (I'm sure her skin color would have been a plus as well). Kind of funny though how the 9th went overwhelmingly for Hillary but it's representative, Rick Boucher (D), endorsed Obama.


Title: Re: Most Republican County in Each State in 2008
Post by: politicalchick20 on February 11, 2010, 02:21:18 PM
Garrett County is the westernmost county in Maryland (a Republican stronghold on its own) and is the one county of the state that seems like it shouldn't be a part of the state at all (even Allegany County, the only Maryland county it borders, is more closely identified with the state). It is considered to be more like West Virginia than Maryland, although unlike many counties in West Virginia, the instances where it votes for Democrats can be summed up as "practically never" (Allegany County and Washington County, which are also in Western Maryland, can also be described that way, but they have cities like Frederick, Hagerstown and Cumberland, along with a few universities, to balance this out. Garrett County does not.). It is also almost uniformly white.


Title: Re: Most Republican County in Each State in 2008
Post by: 🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸 on February 12, 2010, 04:17:35 PM

I wonder if counties named after Republicans are more likely to vote that way.


Title: Re: Most Republican County in Each State in 2008
Post by: Badger on March 12, 2010, 06:53:14 PM
Mercer County, Ohio combines general rural western Ohio conservatism with a relative low level of unemployment that negates most economic populism. The county has a large number of family farms and surprising number of decent paying manufacturing jobs mostly at smaller nonunion companies. A lot of union presence disappeared when the Huffy Bike plant shut down in the 90's. It still has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the state, though it's more than doubled in the last 2 years.

What really sets the county off politically is the high number of Catholics, mostly of German heritage. Most of the surrounding counties share that demographic (and the resulting conservatism), but Mercer County has a particularly large share, especially in the southern half of the county.

These folks aren't any more or less wingnut in their conservatism than much of rural Ohio on most issues. The strong exception to this rule is abortion. That's not to say the region is full of extremists ready to bomb clinics, but its overwhelming how utterly ubiquitous hardcore opposition to abortion is even compared to typical midwestern small towns, and an absolute deal-breaker for any remotely pro-choice candidate.

It's ironic to consider that as recent as 1972 Mercer County was actually voting more Democratic than the statewise average. Check out the 1968 map. https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/  The lonely red county on the Indiana border is Mercer. The rise of the abortion issue changed everything, though, and combined with (relative) economic prosperity on top of generic rural west Ohio conservatism together changed this once Democratic leaning county to the most GOP in the state in 2006 and 2008 (and probably 2010 as well).


Title: Re: Most Republican County in Each State in 2008
Post by: Patricknoddy on December 18, 2011, 01:52:50 PM
9. Glascock County, Georgia (McCain 84.17 - Obama 14.71 = R + 69.46)

Mostly white exurb of Atlanta, I believe.

Nowhere near Atlanta, but over 90% white.


Title: Re: Most Republican County in Each State in 2008
Post by: old timey villain on December 18, 2011, 10:13:26 PM
It's actually kind of strange, because Glascock is surrounded by several majority black counties in the  Georgia black belt, yet it's well over 80% white


Title: Re: Most Republican County in Each State in 2008
Post by: Person Man on December 18, 2011, 11:00:04 PM
I find the fact that my state's reddest county is named Crook. No offense to the Republicans, but that's just hilarious.


Title: Re: Most Republican County in Each State in 2008
Post by: Adam Griffin on March 08, 2012, 02:42:31 AM
It's actually kind of strange, because Glascock is surrounded by several majority black counties in the  Georgia black belt, yet it's well over 80% white

Beat me to it. There's actually a lot of reported racial tension here as you're right; Glascock County is a 90% white county surrounded by majority black counties. The political tension here is also evident when you look next door to Hancock County, which was the second most Democratic county in Georgia in 2008. In 2004, Hancock County was the most Democratic county while Glascock was the second most Republican. Similar results can be seen between the two counties in 2000 as well.


Title: Re: Most Republican County in Each State in 2008
Post by: tpfkaw on March 08, 2012, 10:42:03 AM
The urban/rural divide actually goes back to the 19th century (and arguably was even stronger then), although it's only in the last 30 years or so that it has shifted to nearly *all* rural areas favoring Republicans and nearly *all* urban areas favoring Democrats.


Title: Re: Most Republican County in Each State in 2008
Post by: Tutankhuman Bakari Sellers on May 01, 2012, 09:28:28 PM
Dupage County, IL 54 Obama McCain 43