Biggest state surprises of the 1992 election

[Oldiesfreak1854]

How about CO and MT being surprise Clinton states?

Anyway, I think it's safe to say that this was the last national realignment.

[Del Tachi]

How about CO and MT being surprise Clinton states?

Anyway, I think it's safe to say that this was the last national realignment.

Really?  What realigned?

Clinton's 1992 victory looked a lot like Carter's in 1976.  The real realignments are 1968 and 2008. 

[Mr. Illini]

How about CO and MT being surprise Clinton states?

Anyway, I think it's safe to say that this was the last national realignment.

Really?  What realigned?

Clinton's 1992 victory looked a lot like Carter's in 1976.  The real realignments are 1968 and 2008. 

Not so. I would argue that the gradual shift southward for the GOP was solidified in 1992. It occurred with Goldwater but the south was still tepid toward the GOP and the elections were very candidate specific. The south went strongly for Carter because he was a southern-brand Democrat. By 1992, Clinton wasn't winning the deep south minus LA and AR (his home state) but was winning in the northeast.

There's no way 2008 can be considered a realignment. The patterns from 1992-2012 are fairly consistent and especially 2000-2012.

[Heimdal]

If there is such a thing as realigning elections then 1992 is such an election. In this election Clinton won a swathe of states that the Democrats have won ever since. It is California, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Connecticut, Vermont, Illinois, Maine and Wisconsin. The Obama coalition is basically just a new version of the Clinton coalition that relies more on upscale suburbanites and minorities, and less on rural southerners.

It is besides the topic of this thread, but I would also argue that 1952 is more of a realigning election than 1968. In this election Eisenhower won a lot of the same states that would form the basis of Nixon’s and Reagan’s electoral coalitions.