Who won Norman, Oklahoma?
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  Who won Norman, Oklahoma?
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Author Topic: Who won Norman, Oklahoma?  (Read 2969 times)
TDAS04
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« on: March 02, 2014, 02:14:10 PM »

I recall reading that McCain defeated Obama in OKC and Tulsa by 15 and 11 points, respectively.  That's very unusual for cities of that size, and it shows how staunchly conservative Oklahoma is.

The only mid-sized city where it seems possible that Obama won in 2008 might be the college town of Norman.  McCain carried Cleveland County by 24 points, but
 Norman makes up under half the county's population.

Does anyone have an idea if Norman was one place in Oklahoma where Obama won?
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Vega
Junior Chimp
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« Reply #1 on: March 02, 2014, 02:16:12 PM »

I think McCain won, so no.
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RedSLC
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« Reply #2 on: March 02, 2014, 02:24:35 PM »

It went roughly 52-48 for McCain in 2008. Romney probably did about the same. The relatively liberal area around Oklahoma State University gets outvoted by more suburbanesque territory surrounding it.

Denton, Texas is a similar case.
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TDAS04
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« Reply #3 on: March 02, 2014, 02:31:36 PM »

I see, thank you.

Oklahoma is quite conservative, and that is a major understatement. 
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Junior Chimp
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« Reply #4 on: March 02, 2014, 02:36:08 PM »

I see, thank you.

Oklahoma is quite conservative, and that is a major understatement. 

It's more so than Texas, even.
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ElectionsGuy
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« Reply #5 on: March 02, 2014, 03:01:05 PM »

McCain/Romney won it both times. I think I did a thread on this in the 2012 section.
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Reginald
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« Reply #6 on: March 02, 2014, 03:01:52 PM »

DRA says McCain won it 52-48. This isn't perfect because the precinct boundaries don't line up exactly with city limits, but it's close enough to be sure that Obama didn't win:



This is really only an effect of, as you can see, Norman's boundary being rather extensive. It not only includes the "denser" area around the university, but the 90s-style subdivisions west of I-35 as well as rural-ish land around Lake Thunderbird (having control over the lake was basically the only reason Norman annexed almost all the way out to the county line). So essentially in this case, the Democratic bent of your typical college town is offset by its surroundings:



Romney won by a similar margin. IIRC, the Democratic precincts swung more D, and the precincts out east swung more R. 
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TDAS04
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« Reply #7 on: March 02, 2014, 03:22:33 PM »

I see, Obama still carried the campus area, but the surroundings are much more conservative.  Is that the main reason, or is the University of Oklahoma any more conservative than, say, the University of Kansas in Lawrence (which is pretty liberal city)?
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nclib
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« Reply #8 on: March 02, 2014, 04:07:56 PM »

I would expect that the denser parts of Lawrence are more Democratic than that of Norman. Douglas, KS is not that much smaller (in area) than Cleveland, OK.

IIRC, Douglas was dramatically more anti-marriage amendment than the rest of KS.
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Reginald
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« Reply #9 on: March 02, 2014, 05:38:47 PM »

...is the University of Oklahoma any more conservative than, say, the University of Kansas in Lawrence (which is pretty liberal city)?

Oh definitely.



The precincts that include OU went about 60% Obama, while those that include KU were more like 75%. I'm really not at all qualified to explain why specifically there's such a difference. One thing I can say is that some of OU's most popular programs relate to the oil and gas industry (geology, petroleum engineering, "energy management"). Lawrence also has more of a "college town" reputation than Norman does, and that has its own pull factors for certain people. I'd imagine KU being more Midwestern has to come into play as well.

All that is to say that (inner) Norman definitely isn't Lawrence, but it's not exactly Stillwater or College Station or the-rest-of-Oklahoma either. Tongue

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Skill and Chance
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« Reply #10 on: March 02, 2014, 06:02:13 PM »

How does UT Austin or Rice look compared to other colleges?  There's a pretty big petroleum presence there, too.  I recall TAMU actually voted for McCain and Romney?
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