3 counties that missed the memos

[Joe Republic]

I noticed these stats for the three Mississippi counties of Claiborne, Holmes and Jefferson.

Claiborne County, MS

1964
Goldwater = 93.6%
Johnson = 6.4%

1972
McGovern = 57.0%
Nixon = 41.8%

1984
Mondale = 70.9%
Reagan = 28.9%

Holmes County, MS

1964
Goldwater = 96.6%
Johnson = 3.4%

1972
McGovern = 51.7%
Nixon = 47.2%

1984
Mondale = 64.4%
Reagan = 35.4%

Jefferson County, MS

1964
Goldwater = 94.8%
Johnson = 5.2%

1972
McGovern = 55.9%
Nixon = 43.4%

1984
Mondale = 77.9%
Reagan = 21.9%


Now I'm the first to admit that I know very little about Mississippi politics, but still: WTF?  Did those three counties just not read any newspapers in those years?

[semissou]

Mississippi has weird voting patterns, esp with third parties. wasnt one of the counties like 15% 3rd party in '00?

[True Democrat]

These counties must have a high percentage of African-Americans.  In 1964, African-Americans were not yet voting in the South, but 1972 and 1984 they were.  You should check the voting population in 1964 compared to 1972.  There should be a dramatic increase.

[Rob]

These counties must have a high percentage of African-Americans.  In 1964, African-Americans were not yet voting in the South, but 1972 and 1984 they were.  You should check the voting population in 1964 compared to 1972.  There should be a dramatic increase.

Exactly. These are all Delta plantation counties. They were Dixiecrat strongholds before blacks could vote, and the most right wing areas in the state. When their black majorities were enfranchised, they became the most liberal areas. However, the white vote in those counties is still almost certainly over 90 percent Republican.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Mississippi has weird voting patterns, esp with third parties. wasnt one of the counties like 15% 3rd party in '00?

Sharkey, MS 2004

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Other Goldwater-McGovern-Mondale
West Feliciana LA
5 Alabama counties

A 6th Alabama county voted "Unpledged Democrat"-McGovern-Mondale

That's a total of either 9 or 10 (depending out how you count "unpledged") counties that McGovern and Mondale won and LBJ didn't.

Those are all of the non LBJ - McGovern counties in the US.

Mondale generally won more counties than McGovern, and won some other non-LBJ counties.


Sort of funny that LBJ had the greatest popular vote percentage ever (61.05%) and was not on the ballot in Alabama.

[Blerpiez]

All three counties had about the same vote total for the GOP in both elections, but the total votes doubled between these elections in each county.

[Redefeatbush04]

True Democrat and Bob are absolutely right.

Holmes county for example is nearly 80% black, and while I could not find voter registration statistics for that county in 1964, I did notice that in the state of Mississippi only 33% of the voting age population voted, wheras the national average was around 62% of the voting age population. It is pretty safe to say that the reason for this is the high % of blacks that did not or could not vote.