I just realized that Clinton did better in Louisiana in 1996 than Carter did there in 1976. How did that happen?
Clinton had more suburban appeal?
The Cajun vote swung strongly to Clinton in 1992 and 1996.
Louisiana was the MOST Democratic state in 1988 and voted to the LEFT of the Country (slightly) in 1992 and 1996.
It looks like Louisiana was a little to the right of the country in 1992 (if you're going by margin of victory), but yeah to the left in 1996. The real question is why Louisiana swung left in '96 when most of the South swung to the right (the nation overall shifting to the left in '96 was due to the Northeast shifting that way). All I can think of is a) Bush Sr. was an oilman from a neighboring state, b) Louisiana's incumbency bias, or c)high AA turnout (which also swung MS and SC left but not nearly enough to flip them).
