President Obama Had Best Performance in the South Since Jimmy Carter

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

When you take the totals for the following 11 states - the ones that I consider to be part of the actual South regardless of interpretation - you get the following results:

1976 - Carter 53.88%
2008 - Obama 46.37%
1996 - Clinton 46.15%
2012 - Obama 45.09%
1980 - Carter 44.50%
2000 - Gore 43.49%
2004 - Kerry 42.45%
1992 - Clinton 41.16%
1988 - Dukakis 40.87%
1984 - Mondale 37.18%

Would you mind doing the GOP percentages as well?

[mileslunn]

If you include the GOP percentages I think Clinton did better relatively speaking as lets remember there was Ross Perot on the ballot both times.  In terms of electoral votes and states won, Clinton definitely did better than Obama.  Amongst Southern whites also I am sure Clinton did quite a bit better while amongst non-whites Obama probably did better but it should be noted in 1996, other than Asians, Clinton won by almost as large a margin as Obama did and overall the demographic change has really only been significant in Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, and Georgia.  The racial breakdown in the remaining states is not that much different than 1996.  Another reason is minority voters turned out in much larger numbers than they did in 1996.  I suspect that was a combination of the GOTV strategy, but also the borderline racism from the tea party and the fact they are so dominant in the GOP probably scared many of the minorities so they showed up to keep those people out of power.  In 1996, the racist element in the GOP was much less noticeable than in 2012 (they probably existed and some may have even been Democrats then, but I think the election of a non-white president finally brought them out).

[Boris]

When you take the totals for the following 11 states - the ones that I consider to be part of the actual South regardless of interpretation - you get the following results:

1976 - Carter 53.88%
2008 - Obama 46.37%
1996 - Clinton 46.15%
2012 - Obama 45.09%
1980 - Carter 44.50%
2000 - Gore 43.49%
2004 - Kerry 42.45%
1992 - Clinton 41.16%
1988 - Dukakis 40.87%
1984 - Mondale 37.18%

It's obviously more meaningful to compare these percentages relative to the national averages than simply an absolute percentage.

[Adam Griffin]

When you take the totals for the following 11 states - the ones that I consider to be part of the actual South regardless of interpretation - you get the following results:

1976 - Carter 53.88%
2008 - Obama 46.37%
1996 - Clinton 46.15%
2012 - Obama 45.09%
1980 - Carter 44.50%
2000 - Gore 43.49%
2004 - Kerry 42.45%
1992 - Clinton 41.16%
1988 - Dukakis 40.87%
1984 - Mondale 37.18%

It's obviously more meaningful to compare these percentages relative to the national averages than simply an absolute percentage.

Pretty easy to do.

Points Less D than Nat'l Avg

1992: 1.85
1996: 3.08
1984: 3.38
1988: 4.78
2000: 4.89
2012: 5.67
2004: 5.82
2008: 6.50

Points More D than Nat'l Avg

1980: 3.49
1976: 3.80

[Kaine for Senate '18]

How'd Obama do in the Peripheral South, relative to the nation?

[memphis]

How'd Obama do in the Peripheral South, relative to the nation?

By peripheral South, do you mean Missouri, Oklahoma, Kentucky, and West Virginia? All strong Obama states

[Oswald Acted Alone, You Kook]

How'd Obama do in the Peripheral South, relative to the nation?

By peripheral South, do you mean Missouri, Oklahoma, Kentucky, and West Virginia? All strong Obama states

But Maryland and Delaware?

[Kaine for Senate '18]

How'd Obama do in the Peripheral South, relative to the nation?

By peripheral South, do you mean Missouri, Oklahoma, Kentucky, and West Virginia? All strong Obama states

  VA, NC, FL, AR, TX, and TN.

[HoosierPoliticalJunkie]

Still B.O. couldn't win a single deep south state, Virginia was the only one, and that is not really considered southern anymore, so essentially below the mason-dixon line, won diddly squat, it's that simple, Democrats just love to spin and argue the toss, OBAMA LOST THE SOUTH!!!...does it compute? He lost it...got his ass kicked...got creamed in the heart of Dixie.

It's hard to pack more ignorance into a single paragraph than this, except maybe you could outdo yourself by adding a few "Real Amurrica!" chants.