What is the most Democratic and most Republican county in your state

[dazzleman]

The Bronx sucks...I would take the strong Democratic orientation of a place like that as a strong indictment of Democratic politics. 

The city of Hartford is another hellhole.  No surprise that it's 80%+ Democratic.

Dazzleman, what about places like Cambridge, Mass. that are well-off and still 80%+ Democratic?

Hypocritical limousine liberals who live in a bubble, and use their money to insulate themselves from the policies they advocate.  Worse than the poor actually, because the poor actually have a reason, however misguided, to vote the way they do.

[Sam Spade]

Maryland

Prince George's County:
Kerry - 82%
Bush - 18%

Garrett County:
Bush - 73%
Kerry - 27%

PG County has a very large black population.  It is also the most wealthy majority-minority county in the country.

Garrett County probably has much more in common with northeast West Virginia than it does Maryland.  Maybe Al can highlight Garrett Co. because I really I have no idea what its like there.

Western Maryland, Northeastern West Virginia has a history of being solidly Republican that goes back to the Civil War (unlike the other areas that surround).

Other than that, it's pretty rural and that's what Al would say also.

[Dr. Cynic]

Most likely Bucks is the most Demo
and Wayne is the most Repub. Those are just guesses.

[minionofmidas]

Most likely Bucks is the most Demo

Wtf? How about Philadelphia County.

[Sam Spade]

Texas (256 counties)

Democratic:

Zavala County
Kerry 74.8% (2,332)   
Bush 24.9% (777)   
Other 0.3% (9)

Typical South Texas rural border county.  High Hispanic population (91.2%).  Nothing very interesting, actually.   

Republican:

Ochiltree County

Kerry 7.9% (251)   
Bush 92.0% (2,922)   
Other 0.1% (4)   

Ochiltree County is in far North Texas, a Panhandle county bordered on the north by Oklahoma.  It voted Democrat in every Prez election from 1892 to 1948, except 1928.  It has voted Republican in every election since.  It was one of only 16 counties to vote against Johnson in 1964, giving Goldwater 66%.  Highly rural, highly white.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Garrett County probably has much more in common with northeast West Virginia than it does Maryland.  Maybe Al can highlight Garrett Co. because I really I have no idea what its like there.

Solidly Republican due to the Civil War basically. In most ways your average Appalachian county (economy traditionally based on small scale mining and forestry etc.) with the exception of a touristy area in the middle of the county. It's a fairly (although not *very*) German area as well if that helps. Not much more to say to be honest.

Oh yes... amusingly the largest religious denomination is BRTD's...

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Oh yes... amusingly the largest religious denomination is BRTD's...

Now that's a suprise. I thought there was hardly any outside the upper Midwest.

[minionofmidas]

West Virginia's denominational patterns are fairly unique. And if this area has many Germans, and they're not Catholic and they didn't convert to some other church in America, they're bound to be Lutheran.

[TeePee4Prez]

Most likely Bucks is the most Demo
and Wayne is the most Repub. Those are just guesses.

Bucks??  You kidding me, that county has frustrated the hell out of me considering how liberal they are yet somehow manage to elect Republicans locally even the likes of Mike Fitzpatrick to Congress who is a Santorum clone.  Bucks is fairly libertarian, maybe 3rd Way Dem, but surely not the most Democratic in fact the GOP has a registration advantage.  Some of the western counties have Dem registration advantages that went for Bush.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

West Virginia's denominational patterns are fairly unique. And if this area has many Germans, and they're not Catholic and they didn't convert to some other church in America, they're bound to be Lutheran.

hmmm, well German Lutherans tend to be more conservative. It'd be suprising though if they're ELCA and not some more conservative denomination.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

A small Lutheran denomination (Church of the Lutheran Brethren of America) is also quite large in the area if it helps. Quite a lot of Methodists too (but less than is normal for that part of the Appalachians).

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Looking up the exact numbers, it appears the actual largest denomination is the United Methodists, without about a hundred more than the ELCA (I assume these stats are by counting church membership). However if you add the Missouri synod Lutherans, Lutherans become the largest denom, but the Missouri synod is very different. The ELCA being so much larger is a bit of a suprise though. Also about half are not in any church, which is a suprisingly common phenonomen in rural conservative counties where you'd expect that to hardly be the case.

Of course, these figures are pretty unreliable, there are plenty of people who remain on church membership rolls and never go and people who go who never bother to become members. My family is probably still on the membership rolls of 3 churches back in Bismarck, yet are not on the one they currently go to.

There's actually a county in Minnesota with higher church membership than the population of the county (probably due to people belonging to multiple churches). And it voted for Kerry.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

The set of stats you're using comes from about six years ago; look at the trend lines. I think it's safe to say that right now, your church is the biggest one in the county.

As for overall attendence... no that's not suprising. That part of Appalachia is religious but not really church attending. The pattern is even more noticeable in WV.

[AkSaber]

Well, no counties. Do regions count?

Democrat
Region 4
Bush   54.0%   10,219
Kerry   41.6%   7,861   
 
Republican
Region 3
Bush   63.6%   37,421
Kerry   32.9%   19,352

[nclib]

Well, no counties. Do regions count?

Democrat
Region 4
Bush   54.0%   10,219
Kerry   41.6%   7,861   
 
Republican
Region 3
Bush   63.6%   37,421
Kerry   32.9%   19,352

So Bush won all regions in Alaska? How many are there - 30?

[Alcon]

I thought Kerry won one of the Juneau districts?

[AkSaber]

So Bush won all regions in Alaska? How many are there - 30?

40 House districts, yes. But I think the regions are certain areas of Alaska.

I thought Kerry won one of the Juneau districts?

I thought so too. But if you go to the Election District data for 2004, there are only 4 regions, not the 40 House districts.

[minionofmidas]

This is because correct House district data are not available for 2004, because although "question" (provisional. I think.) and "absentee" votes are tallied by house district, "early" votes are not. Some of them are tallied by region*, some by Senate district, some by whatever. The official reports by House District list all the early ballots that *míght* have been cast in this district as having been cast in this district, which is of course absurd. Still, it's possible to calculate results minus early votes, and Kerry kerried D3 (Juneau, Douglas) and D23 (most downtown portion of Anchorage).

*Region 1 = D 1-5 and 33-36 = Panhandle, Kenai Pen, Kodiak
Region 2 = D 13-32 = Anchorage, Mat-Su
Region 3 = D 6-12 = Fairbanks, Yukon
Region 4 = D 37-40 = North and West coasts

[minionofmidas]

I'll present the data in a format similar to how I did with Hawaii later today. Bit more detailed probably, actually.

[minionofmidas]

And it is done.

[AkSaber]

Wow!! Thank you Lewis!!