LaSalle Parish, Louisiana

[DariusNJ]

85.4 % white, 12.9% black, 1,8 % other

2008 US Presidential Results : McCain 85.5%, Obama 13.1%


Does anyone have an explanation for this? This county doesn't have a lot of Cajuns, if I'm correct. Racism probably played a factor, as this is the home of the infamous town of Jena. Can anyone with knowledge of this area explain this?

By the way, the Senate results were 71% for Kennedy and 25% for Landrieu.

[Хahar 🤔]

What explanation is needed? The resuts are rather obvious.

[Lee Atwater]

'Gods Country' folks, the land of segregation, racism, bigotry and close mindedness.

Sad to see the Republican party is now exclusively composed of such reactionary elements.

[Ronnie]

'Gods Country' folks, the land of segregation, racism, bigotry and close mindedness.

Sad to see the Republican party is now exclusively composed of such reactionary elements.

[Mr. Morden]

John Edwards got 15% of the vote in the 2008 Democratic primary there, highest %age for him of any parish in Louisiana.....this was a few weeks after he dropped out of the race.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Biden, Dodd and Richardson all also got almost 10% too despite having also dropped out. So almost 25% went to non-running candidates.

[Smash255]

Duke received 66.88% of the vote there when he ran for Gov, tied with West Carrol Parish for Duke's best performance in the state.

[DariusNJ]

Biden, Dodd and Richardson all also got almost 10% too despite having also dropped out. So almost 25% went to non-running candidates.

That's strange. I could understand Edwards doing well in rural areas, even Biden to some extent, but Dodd and Richardson (a hispanic)?

[hcallega]

Biden, Dodd and Richardson all also got almost 10% too despite having also dropped out. So almost 25% went to non-running candidates.

That's strange. I could understand Edwards doing well in rural areas, even Biden to some extent, but Dodd and Richardson (a hispanic)?

Realize that these are not running candidates, and therefore voters are less aware as to who they are, and what they stand for. So therefore Dodd being a senator and Richardson being a governor who didn't have a hispanic name probably helped

[Alcon]

Biden, Dodd and Richardson all also got almost 10% too despite having also dropped out. So almost 25% went to non-running candidates.

That's strange. I could understand Edwards doing well in rural areas, even Biden to some extent, but Dodd and Richardson (a hispanic)?

I doubt many voters probably considered Richardson ethnic.  I mean, he's a Hispanic, but he's a Hispanic named Bill Richardson.

It's also quite possible that they were just picking a name that sounded familiar.

[Meeker]

I forget sometimes that Bill Richardson actually still holds elective office. Weird.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I forget sometimes that Bill Richardson actually still holds elective office. Weird.

[tmthforu94]

It works both ways, and makes sense. Whites are more Republican, blacks are heavily Democrat. So obviously McCain would do better in a county dominated by whites, just like Obama would do better in a county dominated by blacks.

[DariusNJ]

Biden, Dodd and Richardson all also got almost 10% too despite having also dropped out. So almost 25% went to non-running candidates.

That's strange. I could understand Edwards doing well in rural areas, even Biden to some extent, but Dodd and Richardson (a hispanic)?

I doubt many voters probably considered Richardson ethnic.  I mean, he's a Hispanic, but he's a Hispanic named Bill Richardson.

It's also quite possible that they were just picking a name that sounded familiar.

That's true.

[CatoMinor]

Can anyone with knowledge of this area explain this?

Its Lousianna

[DariusNJ]

It works both ways, and makes sense. Whites are more Republican, blacks are heavily Democrat. So obviously McCain would do better in a county dominated by whites, just like Obama would do better in a county dominated by blacks.

Yeah, but the election results are pretty much equal to the demographics. Obama probably got 1-2% of the white vote in the county, and McCain probably got around 1 % of the black vote. I haven't seen racial voting to that extent in any other Southern counties.

[memphis]

It works both ways, and makes sense. Whites are more Republican, blacks are heavily Democrat. So obviously McCain would do better in a county dominated by whites, just like Obama would do better in a county dominated by blacks.

Yeah, but the election results are pretty much equal to the demographics. Obama probably got 1-2% of the white vote in the county, and McCain probably got around 1 % of the black vote. I haven't seen racial voting to that extent in any other Southern counties.

You obviously haven't looked at many counties in Mississippi.

[Smash255]

It works both ways, and makes sense. Whites are more Republican, blacks are heavily Democrat. So obviously McCain would do better in a county dominated by whites, just like Obama would do better in a county dominated by blacks.

To this extent?  Blanco also won there btw, and it had the biggest  drop from support for Duke in 91 to support for Jindl in 03..  I wonder why that is....

[minionofmidas]

It's Northeast Louisiana. Check the fun with racial voting - LA edition thread.

You obviously haven't looked at many counties in Mississippi.

Not any counties this white in Mississippi.

[gs]

It works both ways, and makes sense. Whites are more Republican, blacks are heavily Democrat. So obviously McCain would do better in a county dominated by whites, just like Obama would do better in a county dominated by blacks.

To this extent?  Blanco also won there btw, and it had the biggest  drop from support for Duke in 91 to support for Jindl in 03..  I wonder why that is....

Blanco is a white woman and Jindal is an Indian man. LaSalle Parish and neighboring areas are incredibly racist. Go figure.

[DariusNJ]

It works both ways, and makes sense. Whites are more Republican, blacks are heavily Democrat. So obviously McCain would do better in a county dominated by whites, just like Obama would do better in a county dominated by blacks.

Yeah, but the election results are pretty much equal to the demographics. Obama probably got 1-2% of the white vote in the county, and McCain probably got around 1 % of the black vote. I haven't seen racial voting to that extent in any other Southern counties.

You obviously haven't looked at many counties in Mississippi.

I have. There are no counties in MS that are over 80% white that were as polarized as this. The counties in MS that were polarized were clustered in Southern Mississippi, and many were  between 45-60% white.

[mileslunn]

I think there were a few counties in Mississippi were McCain's vote share equalled or was greater than the percentage White and considering Obama got over 90% and in most cases over 95% of the Black vote never mind turnout amongst them was high if not higher, so I suspect there were some pretty racially polarized counties there too.  Also, if Jindal couldn't win in the county than might suggest some racism.  Although I think there is less racism towards Indian Americans than Blacks as they are smaller in numbers and haven't been there for long.  I have found in many cases people tend to be more racist when there is a large presence of a certain minority group than relatively few.  After all, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Wisconin, Western Massachusetts, Minnesota, Iowa, and Oregon all backed Obama despite being heavily White, so I suspect in those areas race was largely a non-issue for most.  Off course many whites voted Republican simply because they were conservative in their views and would have happily backed Condoleeza Rice or Michael Steele had either of them been the Republican candidate.  And likewise I suspect many Democrats would have voted the same way had the Republicans nominated a black candidate and the Democrats a white candidate.

[minionofmidas]

I think there were a few counties in Mississippi were McCain's vote share equalled or was greater than the percentage White and considering Obama got over 90% and in most cases over 95% of the Black vote never mind turnout amongst them was high if not higher, so I suspect there were some pretty racially polarized counties there too. 

Yes, of course. Almost everywhere in Mississippi that's less than 65% or so White is this racially polarized.
But not any heavily White parts.

[mileslunn]

I think there were a few counties in Mississippi were McCain's vote share equalled or was greater than the percentage White and considering Obama got over 90% and in most cases over 95% of the Black vote never mind turnout amongst them was high if not higher, so I suspect there were some pretty racially polarized counties there too. 

Yes, of course. Almost everywhere in Mississippi that's less than 65% or so White is this racially polarized.
But not any heavily White parts.

Its true in the South that the larger the Black population is the more racially polarized it is, but not everywhere.  Washington DC has a Black majority yet 88% of whites voted for Obama according to the Exit Polls.  Now true much of that might have to do with the fact many were government workers who usually vote Democrat, but I think racial polarization is more prevalent in the South, while elsewhere the White population's vote tends to be influenced by other factors and the presence of minorities or not seems to not have too big an impact on the white vote.

[Sam Spade]

It's Northeast Louisiana. Check the fun with racial voting - LA edition thread.

You obviously haven't looked at many counties in Mississippi.

Not any counties this white in Mississippi.

Strange, I always think of LaSalle as the center of Louisiana rather than the NE, but maybe I'm just odd.

I'm always been kind of curious to see how many people have been in LaSalle before (raises hand).