National Presidential Primary County and State Maps (1912-2020)

[RI]

Here are maps of what I have been able to find so far for past presidential primaries. I was wondering if anyone could help find more data or if they knew where more data could be found. I've scoured the internet in all the usual places, State SOS and Election board websites, ourcampaigns.com, and online blue books, not to mention sending out probably hundreds of emails, and this is what I've come up with.

I have every primary state back to 1968 filled in (with a couple of exceptions) along with as much caucus data as I can find (most blank states, at least back until 1968, are caucus states and therefore have limited data available). Before 1968, I have much more limited data, but this is very much a work in progress, and I am adding new data as often as I can.

Occasionally you will see a state without variations in shade, which means that I do not know anything more than who won the county. Three states on the 2008 Democratic primary map have results displayed by legislative district rather than by county as this is the only data available (Alaska, Kansas, and North Dakota). North Dakota is also displayed as such on the 2008 Republican primary and 2004 Democratic primary maps. All Alaska maps are in House Districts.

2016 Democratic:


2016 Republican:


2012 Democratic:


2012 Republican:


2008 Democratic:
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2008 Republican:
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2004 Democratic:


2000 Democratic:
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2000 Republican:
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1996 Democratic:


1996 Republican:
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1992 Democratic:
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1992 Republican:


1988 Democratic:


1988 Republican:


1984 Democratic:


1980 Democratic:
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1980 Republican:
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1976 Democratic:


1976 Republican:
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1972 Democratic:
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1968 Democratic:
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1968 Republican:


1964 Democratic:


1964 Republican:


Some older maps:

1952 Democratic:


1952 Republican:
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1948 Republican:


1924 Republican:


1920 Republican:


1916 Republican:


1912 Democratic:


1912 Republican:

[RI]

Here are the state-by-state maps to go with the county ones (note that several states had both primaries and caucuses in various years):

2016 Democratic:

2016 Republican:

2012 Republican:


2008 Democratic:


2008 Republican:


2004 Democratic:


2000 Democratic:


2000 Republican:


1996 Republican:

1992 Democratic:

1988 Democratic:

1988 Republican:

1984 Democratic:

1980 Democratic:

1980 Republican:

1976 Democratic:

1976 Republican:

1972 Democratic:

1968 Democratic:

[RI]

Make sure to check back on this thread from time to time as I am adding states whenever I can.

[RI]

where were all the 1980 primary results posted at? (and the Ohio results)

I got all of the 1980 results except those for FL, GA, SD, KY, and MD from Rob who got them from a book whose title is escaping me. The FL, SD, and KY results were from SoS or Election Boards for those states while GA and MD were from state manuals/blue books/registers for 1981-82.

As for Ohio, 1996 came from the their SoS website, 1980 came from Rob, and 1984 came from the website Beyond Red and Blue.

[RI]

Nebraska primary results can be found here: http://www.nlc.state.ne.us/epubs/S1200/S001.html

Thank you! I've now updated 1980 with these results and will continue to work on others. Is there any way that you can get information on Missouri?

[RI]

The only Missouri primary before 2000 was 1988 and that's on the map right now.

I only know the county winners, not the percentages, however.

[RI]

Thanks.

On the Republican map, which color is Bush and which is Dole?

[RI]

Bush is blue, Dole is red

Good.

[RI]

Major update coming tomorrow!

[RI]

ooh, where did the new 1988 results come from?

I went down to the UW library and found a book with a bunch of old returns in it (The same book Rob has). It was a reference book, so I copied a bunch of them that I thought were interesting. 

[RI]

what is the book called?

United States Presidential Primary Elections 1968-1996: A Handbook of Election Statistics

[RI]

I updated it to show the current status of each map, and how many states I have yet to enter for each one.

Also, does anyone know anything about finding information for caucuses? I would imagine that such data would be scarce or non-existent and certainly not online.

[RI]

should be interesting to see what other counties in KS are close. 4 of 5 Kansas counties won by Kennedy in 1980 were heavy swings in favor of John F. Kennedy in 1960 (he won Ellis but lost the other 3)

Hey, I was just working on that one.

There is quite a correlation there. I think it holds up pretty well, though with a couple exceptions.

[RI]

Would be awesome if we could get national primary county maps for 2000, 2004, and 2008 also.

Sure thing.

[RI]

I have added 2008 D, 2008 R, 2004 D, 2000 D, 2000 R, and an early version of 1976 D.

If anyone knows where the 2008 results for ND by legislative district are, I would love to know. (They certainly exist)

[RI]

1976 Republican (Early) is up, and 2008 Democratic is now complete as I found ND results.

For historical preservation:

2008 D
Alaska Caucus: Was at alaskademevents.org, Atlas has them here
Kansas Caucus: here
North Dakota Caucus: here

2008 R
Kansas Caucus: here
North Dakota Caucus: here

Republican results for AK would be nice.

[RI]

Somebody gave me the results of the 2008 ND D Caucus by county once, probably on here.

Yeah, I've seen a map like that, too. It's just that not every county had a caucus, so the map is kinda ugly. Every LD had a caucus, though sometimes they were combined.

[RI]

In the 1980 Democratic map, is green uncommitted? (in other words, who won Michigan?)

Yes, uncommitted won Michigan, though Jerry Brown finished second as Carter and Kennedy were not on the ballot, I believe.

[RI]

Can someone explain what happened in North Dakota in 1992?
Why did the Democratic caucus-goers voted for Perrot?

Clinton and Perot were both write-ins in that contest, actually, which muddies it more.

[RI]

I added results for the counties that I could readily find from the 1980, 1984, 1988, and 1992 Iowa Caucuses. If anyone can find full results (anyone live in Iowa?), it would be much appreciated!

[RI]

and while David Duke only won around 12% in Mississippi in 1992, it'd be interesting to see if there were some areas with abnormally high percentages for him

Highest Duke %s:
Amite County: 22.5%
Carroll County: 21.6%
Issaquena County: 21.6%
Webster County: 19.7%
Walthall County: 19.4%
Prentiss County: 19.2%

[RI]

Pretty large update. Still more to come.

[RI]

What's that one county in Arkansas that supported Alan Keyes?

Stone County, IIRC. Majority white I think.

Yes, it is Stone County.

Arkansas Republican primaries have always been very low turnout affairs, as the Democratic Party has always vastly outnumbered Republican registrants in Arkansas. The 2000 Rep primary had about 43,000 voters participating while the Democratic primary the same year had almost 250,000 votes despite both being meaningless races. This pattern of low Republican primary vote totals allowing strange counties to give secondary or tertiary candidates wins can also be seen in the 1996, 1992, 1988, and 1976 Republican results.

In 2000, only Alan Keyes and George W. Bush were on the ballot in Arkansas. Stone County had only 50 votes in the entire county (Keyes 39-11), which is nowhere near the lowest number of votes of an Arkansas county (Arkansas County had 0 votes, St. Francis had 6, Monroe had 10, etc.), but nevertheless is a tiny number. The Dem race the same year saw 2,978 votes cast in Stone County. With such low turnout, strange flukes like these are bound to happen.

Some other low-turnout fluke county winners:
Al Sharpton (2004 D) in Granville County, NC
All Kuchinich wins in 2004 - See HI, NC
Gary Bauer (2000 R) in Knott County, KY
Steve Forbes (1996) in Costilla County, CO
Phil Gramm (1996) in Starr County, TX
Bob Dornan (1996) in Washington County, MS
Maurice Taylor (1996) in Iberville Parish, LA
Don Beamgard (1992 D) in Rawlins County, KS
Tom Harkin (1992 D) in Las Animas County, CO
Ross Perot (1992 R and D) in San Juan County, WA
Douglas Applegate (1988 D) in Harrison County, OH
Jesse Jackson (1988 D) in Pocahontas County, WV
Many Buchanan wins in 1988 - See AL, AR, TX, FL, etc.
Ellen McCormack (1976) in McLean County, KY
George Wallace (1976) in Effingham County, GA

And others...

[RI]

DOes anyone know where to find county level info for pre-'76 primaries?

I have some, though not nearly as much.

1972 Democratic Primaries:


1968 Democratic Primaries:

[RI]

Where does all the data come from for all the older elections?

Either the book I used for the more recent ones, ourcampaigns.com, or state websites that have the data. The link to the Nebraska cache is on the first page, Wisconsin stuff can be found by searching for the blue book of the year you are looking for, NC stuff is on Archive.org, etc.