Results in 2004 by Metro Area

[memphis]

Kerry won Memphis metro with 52.8%. It's probably one of his only Southern metros (even Atlanta, Austin, and New Orleans went for Bush). Gainesville, FL, with the huge University of Florida, is the only other one I could find (I don't count Southern Florida as the South). I have to say that the Census people included extremely rural areas within an hour's drive, which seems to me to be rather generous as to what consitutes a metro area,

[memphis]

Kerry won the Raleigh/Durham metro with 52.4%.

I'm surprised about Memphis. I've always thought of it as a socially conservative region. Does the metro have a high black population?

53% white, 44% black.

But DeSoto County, Mississippi, is really the only county large enough to threaten Shelby County, Tennessee's domination of the metro.

Yeah, I don't think there is any other metro in the nation that is as African-American. Living here, it's really hard to believe that the US is only 13% black and that TN is only 17% black. DeSoto is growing quickly but it is still tiny compared to Shelby. Republicans get far more votes in the eastern (white) half of Shelby County

[memphis]

What would be interesting is trying to find metros that voted Republican.

Lots of them did. Beyond nearly every one in the South, places like Phoenix, Cincinnatti, Columbus, San Diego, Salt Lake City, Indianapolis, Grand Rapids, Oklahoma City....