It's fun to look at the anomalies...and here are some. By the way, congratulations to Hawaii and Rhode Island--every county in each of those states have gone Democratic in Presidential elections since 1988.
Anyway, various lists are below the fold (and cross-posted at http://www.geographylists.com/...
First...a good list...
COUNTIES* WITH THE HIGHEST PERCENTAGE OF THEIR VOTE FOR BARACK OBAMA
This is a geographically diverse list, including counties in major metropolitan areas (some, but not all having large African-American populations), a rural county with an Indian reservation and a couple rural Deep South counties with large African-American populations.
- District of Columbia: 92.9%
- Prince Georges, Maryland (DC Suburbs): 89.1%
- Shannon, South Dakota (Pine Ridge Indian Res.): 88.7%
- Petersburg (City), Virginia (near Richmond): 88.6%
- Bronx, New York: 88.2%
- Baltimore (City), Maryland: 87.5%
- Jefferson, Mississippi (rural, 86% African-American): 87.0%
- Macon, Alabama (85% African-American): 86.9%
- New York, New York (Manhattan): 85.1%
- San Francisco, California: 84.7%
* Includes the District of Columbia and independent cities which are not in any county.
Now...a bad list...yet entertaining...
COUNTIES WITH THE LOWEST PERCENTAGE OF THEIR VOTE FOR BARACK OBAMA
All of these counties are rural Great Plains counties with a large majority of the population being white. Several of these counties are in the Texas panhandle.
- King, Texas: 4.9%
- Ochiltree, Texas: 7.8%
- Roberts, Texas: 7.9%
- Glasscock, Texas: 9.4% (Can't help saying, irreverently, when I see the name..."Don't break it!")
- Beaver, Oklahoma: 10.8%
- Grant, Nebraska: 11.1%
- Oldham, Texas: 11.1%
- Hansford, Texas: 11.4%
- Cimarron, Texas: 12.0%
- Lipscomb, Texas: 12.4%
STATES WHERE EVERY COUNTY HAD MORE OBAMA VOTES THAN MCCAIN VOTES
Every New England state except for Maine (plus Hawaii) had each of its counties with more Obama votes than McCain votes. Note that Hawaii and Rhode Island have both voted Democratic for president in every county since 1988, longer than any other state (Massachusetts has been that way since 1992).
- Connecticut
- Hawaii
- Massachusetts
- New Hampshire
- Rhode Island
- Vermont
In contrast, one state (not including Alaska, which does not tabulate votes by county) had all its counties voting for the Republican presidential candidate versus the Democratic candidate this year: Oklahoma (hence, several diaries that have said "What's the Matter with Oklahoma?"). Oklahoma was that way in '04 (so was Utah, but it had 2 blue counties in '08).
COUNTIES WITH THE GREATEST DEMOCRATIC TRENDS IN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS (2004-2008)
Kos posted states with these trends (Hawaii's D+36, and Indiana is D+22 for the top 2), so here are the counties.
Counties in a variety of states have strongly trended Democratic this Presidential election. This ranges from heavily Hispanic counties in Texas to Obama's birth county of Honolulu, Hawaii to those in Indiana, where Obama campaigned heavily. Also, suburban Atlanta strongly trended Democratic. As an example, Honolulu, Hawaii had a 38 percentage point shift as Kerry won that county by only 3 points, yet Obama won it by 41 points.
Ironically, one of the two counties which trended most strongly Democratic (and thus away from McCain relative to Bush) is named Maverick.
- Honolulu, Hawaii: D+38
- Maverick, Texas (Eagle Pass, along Mexican border): D+38
- Culberson, Texas (east of El Paso): D+35
- Dubois, Indiana (southern Indiana): D+34
- Maui, Hawaii: D+33
- Big Horn, Montana (southeastern Montana): D+32
- Hawaii, Hawaii (big island): D+31
- Kauai, Hawaii: D+31
- Montgomery, Indiana (western Indiana): D+31
- Rockdale, Georgia (suburban Atlanta): D+31
- Rush, Indiana (eastern Indiana): D+31
- Tippecanoe, Indiana (Purdue Univ.): D+31
COUNTIES WITH THE GREATEST REPUBLICAN TRENDS IN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS (2004-2008)
The northwestern perimeter of the South (sometimes known as the "Highland South"), stretching from Oklahoma through Arkansas to parts of Kentucky and Tennessee (though generally not the urban areas) trended the most Republican in Presidential elections of any part of the county between 2004 and 2008. As an example, Bush won Coal County, Oklahoma by 7 points in '04, yet McCain won it by a whopping 48 points. All of the counties that trended most strongly in that direction were rural and predominantly white.
On the state level, Arkansas is R+10, and Louisiana (partly because of the exodus of people from New Orleans, post-Katrina) and Kentucky are R+4.
- Coal, Oklahoma: R+41
- Knott, Kentucky: R+36
- Poinsett, Arkansas: R+34
- Bell, Kentucky: R+32
- Little River, Arkansas: R+31
- Sevier, Arkansas: R+30
- Cleveland, Arkansas: R+28
- Scott, Tennessee: R+28
- Grundy, Tennessee: R+27
- Benton, Tennessee: R+26
- Cameron (Parish), Louisiana: R+26
- Decatur, Tennessee: R+26
- Floyd, Kentucky: R+26
- Grant, Arkansas: R+26
- Haskell, Oklahoma: R+26
- Letcher, Kentucky: R+26
MOST POPULOUS STATES TO HAVE MORE MCCAIN VOTES THAN OBAMA VOTES
Only 13 of the largest 100 counties in the United States voted for John McCain. Of course, as a rule, larger counties (especially those with urban cores) tend to vote Democratic, and smaller, rural counties tend to vote Republican in Presidential elections.
- Maricopa, Arizona (Phoenix)
- Orange, California (Anaheim, etc.)
- Tarrant, Texas (Fort Worth)
- Salt Lake, Utah**
- Fresno, California**
- Duval, Florida (Jacksonville)
- Kern, California (Bakersfield)
- Gwinnett, Georgia (suburban Atlanta)
- Collin, Texas (suburban Dallas)
- Oklahoma, Oklahoma (Okla. City)
** Difference between the McCain and Obama vote was less than one percentage point.