Northwest Illinois in 2004

[Mr. Illini]

Something caught my eye this afternoon from the 2004 county-level map from the 2004 Presidential election.



Why did counties in northwest Illinois vote differently than their Wisconsin and Iowa neighbors almost uniformly along the two borders? Was this caused by local election turnout, or what else?

[Cranberry]

As was discussed already in an other thread, this area is becoming more and more democratic. Maybe Northwestern Illinois was just a bit swifter in getting more Democratic?

[CountyTy90]

Not exactly sure. But now it's pretty swingy. On state levels, Jo Daviess, Carroll, and Stephenson are fairly Republican and Winnebago can swing really either way.

What area is really surprising to me is that of west central Illinois north of Quincy, west of Peoria, and south of the Quad Cities; it's very white, very rural, very agricultural, but Obama carried most of the region.