How Northeast Mississippi Votes In Presidential Elections

Since I looked at how Northeast Mississippi voted in the past three gubernatorial elections as Republicans have really become the strong hand in the state, I also wanted to take a look at the region’s voting patterns in presidential elections. The region, as you would guess is very Republican, but the GOP strength continues to grow and was one of the few areas in the state that could make that claim in 2008 compared to 2004.

Once upon a time, though, Northeast Mississippi was Jimmy Carter country winning nearly every county in the region in 1976 and 1980. Since that time, no Democrat has won more than a couple of the most Democratic counties, those with a strong black voting presence.

That said; here is a look at how the region voted in 1980, 1996, 2004, and 2008. I chose 1980 to show Carter’s strength, 1996 was Bill Clinton’s re-election and he had Southern ties that resonated with some voters, particularly, in rural areas, and then by 2004 and 2008 we see the region’s emergence as a GOP stronghold, even going against national trends three years ago.

Republican vote totals in Northeast Mississippi:

And here is a great map courtesy of David Leip’s Atlas of Presidential Elections showing the trend in the state over the past four years. Again, blue is for Republicans and the darker the shade, the stronger the move toward the GOP. The only place that saw such movement was a few counties in South Mississippi.

A couple quick notes: the further north and the further east provided the heaviest movement toward the GOP. If you crossed over to Alabama or Tennessee you would find similar changes. (This was also very noticeable in the MS-01 election last fall). The more suburban areas such as Lee, Lafayette, or Marshall have seen smaller recent changes, and counties with a higher black population, such as Clay and Oktibbeha, showed a movement toward Democrats in 2008.

I would expect the region to strengthen its Republican hand in 2012.