President Obama Had Best Performance in the South Since Jimmy Carter

[Frodo]

The South isn't a 'Lost Cause' anymore, not even for a black Democratic President:

Republicans face unexpected challenges in coastal South amid shrinking white vote

By Douglas A. Blackmon, Published: November 24

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[Maxwell]

Mitt Romney is a really awful candidate for the South, and McCain was pretty mediocre.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Best performance ever? What about Clinton?

[Brittain33]

Best performance ever? What about Clinton?

They're measuring by share of the vote and Clinton's numbers were lower because he had Perot in the mix.

[Person Man]

Best performance ever? What about Clinton?

They're measuring by share of the vote and Clinton's numbers were lower because he had Perot in the mix.

Obama was the first President since Reagan to be elected and reelected with a fair-and-square absolute majority of the vote and the first Democratic President since FDR to do so (the only others since FDR were Reagan and Eisenhower). Many say that Clinton wouldn't have won if it wasn't for Perot but I don't think so...would be interesting if someone tried to do the bean counting on that. South Carolina and Georgia might be states, perhaps even better than Arizona (I'm thinking that the Arizona problems are probably due to poor organization than people just not believing Democrats) or Texas (more of the same?)  to look to replace electoral votes that may eventually be losed or challenged in the rust belt...the same way that the Southern Rockies replaced Appilachian votes.

[Stranger in a strange land]

Mitt Romney is a really awful candidate for the South, and McCain was pretty mediocre.

Reagan was a mediocre candidate for the South on paper, but he beat native son Jimmy Carter in 1980 and ran up some of his highest margins in any region of the country there in 1984, and this was back in a time when the region was still dominated by Dixiecrats.

[Stirring Wolf🥣🐺]

South Carolina and Georgia might be states, perhaps even better than Arizona (I'm thinking that the Arizona problems are probably due to poor organization than people just not believing Democrats) or Texas (more of the same?)  to look to replace electoral votes that may eventually be loosed or challenged in the rust belt...the same way that the Southern Rockies replaced Appalachian votes.

Sun belt for rust belt do make good replacements. Under today's electoral college this is a DEM win with 276; but in 2028/32/36 it's probably 271/272.

[heatmaster]

Best performance?...he still didn't win there....y'all!

[Person Man]

Best performance?...he still didn't win there....y'all!

Obama actually won the fewest states of any Democrat that actually won the Presidency...still though, the Democrats still need win at least one and perhaps two southern states. However, I think the point is that Obama is paving a way to break up the solid GOP south. Breaking up the solid South and pushing through policies that will break up the dirty energy cartels seem to be a way for Democrats to win most of the time in the first half of the 21st century.  Think of this as the way that Republicans created a majority in the last third of the 20th century through union busting and breaking up the "solid South".

[Niemeyerite]

Best performance?...he still didn't win there....y'all!

It doesn't matter. He won the election, and you are a hack (that wouldn't have changed if Romney had won, but... HACK!).

[tmthforu94]

Yeah, in 2008. This is 2012.

[old timey villain]

Yeah, Obama, you split that south in two like a log!

But yeah, there is certainly a cleavage forming in the region between the south Atlantic that looks promising for Dems in the future and the interior south that looks basically unwinnable.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Honestly, this makes absolutely no sense.

[King]

This is only because Perot drove down Clinton's vote % in 92 and 96.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

This is only because Perot drove down Clinton's vote % in 92 and 96.

On the other hand, Clinton actually split the South with his Republican opponents. Obama carrying VA and FL (and NC, if we count 2008) is hardly comparable to this.

Also, Clinton certainly performed far better with White voters, especially in the Upper South.

[memphis]

This is only because Perot drove down Clinton's vote % in 92 and 96.

^^^^^^
And I don't know exactly what the methodology the paper used was, but it looks to me like Gore did better too, especially if you count WV, KY, and OK as the South. So, basically, the paper's point is that Obama did better in the South than Mondale or Dukakis. Ok, thanks.

[wan]

Most Republicans seemed to think romney would had won no matter what because there philosophy tell them  most presidents would not win re-election with a high unemployment rate and the economic situation the way it is or the obstruction in Congress, etc., etc.. People were saying it couldn't be done. The polls show one thing but the electoral results show another. Before his opponent can do anything about it the guy is winning. That's how it happens. They never know what hit them. What did Muhammad Ali used to say, "float like a butterfly sting like a bee". That applies to the President, that's what he does. Mitt Romney shouldn't take it personally, its not his fault. It was never going to happen for him anyway, not against the President. Romney was playing checkers while Obama was playing chess. Strategy counts. I mean look he even took Staten Island, how often does that happen for a Democratic Presidential candidate? The GOP should just be glad they don't have to run against him again.

[GMantis]

This article is rather misleading considering that:
1) Clinton actually won the South in 1996 and
2) Obama did worse in the South, relative to his overall performance, than any Democrat since McGovern.
Granted, the South trended for Obama in this election, but it's still unclear if this is mostly due a very high black turnout and lowered white turnout (excluding Virginia and Florida, but they're semi-south at most at this point).

[Adam Griffin]

When you take the totals for the following 11 states - the ones that I consider to be part of the actual South regardless of interpretation - you get the following results:

1976 - Carter 53.88%
2008 - Obama 46.37%
1996 - Clinton 46.15%
2012 - Obama 45.09%
1980 - Carter 44.50%
2000 - Gore 43.49%
2004 - Kerry 42.45%
1992 - Clinton 41.16%
1988 - Dukakis 40.87%
1984 - Mondale 37.18%

[pbrower2a]

This is only because Perot drove down Clinton's vote % in 92 and 96.

On the other hand, Clinton actually split the South with his Republican opponents. Obama carrying VA and FL (and NC, if we count 2008) is hardly comparable to this.

Also, Clinton certainly performed far better with White voters, especially in the Upper South.

Neither Virginia, North Carolina, nor Florida is truly Southern by political culture  Even Texas is about as much Western and Midwestern as Southern (it is the "Midwestern" parts of Texas including Amarillo, Lubbock, Wichita Falls, Abilene, and Midland-Odessa that will make Texas a tough pick-up for any Democrat).

[heatmaster]

Still B.O. couldn't win a single deep south state, Virginia was the only one, and that is not really considered southern anymore, so essentially below the mason-dixon line, won diddly squat, it's that simple, Democrats just love to spin and argue the toss, OBAMA LOST THE SOUTH!!!...does it compute? He lost it...got his ass kicked...got creamed in the heart of Dixie.

[LastVoter]

Still B.O. couldn't win a single deep south state, Virginia was the only one, and that is not really considered southern anymore, so essentially below the mason-dixon line, won diddly squat, it's that simple, Democrats just love to spin and argue the toss, OBAMA LOST THE SOUTH!!!...does it compute? He lost it...got his ass kicked...got creamed in the heart of Dixie.

Democrats lost?

[Antonio the Sixth]

Still B.O. couldn't win a single deep south state, Virginia was the only one, and that is not really considered southern anymore, so essentially below the mason-dixon line, won diddly squat, it's that simple, Democrats just love to spin and argue the toss, OBAMA LOST THE SOUTH!!!...does it compute? He lost it...got his ass kicked...got creamed in the heart of Dixie.

And yet he won the election... This tells more about the South than it does about Obama.

[SUSAN CRUSHBONE]

Still B.O. couldn't win a single deep south state, Virginia was the only one, and that is not really considered southern anymore, so essentially below the mason-dixon line, won diddly squat, it's that simple, Democrats just love to spin and argue the toss, OBAMA LOST THE SOUTH!!!...does it compute? He lost it...got his ass kicked...got creamed in the heart of Dixie.

Obama is a black, you see.

[Brittain33]

Still B.O. couldn't win a single deep south state, Virginia was the only one, and that is not really considered southern anymore, so essentially below the mason-dixon line, won diddly squat, it's that simple, Democrats just love to spin and argue the toss, OBAMA LOST THE SOUTH!!!...does it compute? He lost it...got his ass kicked...got creamed in the heart of Dixie.

Please stop... I may cry...