Clinton's Southern vote

[King of Kensington]

What did Clinton's white Southern voting base look like?

[Del Tachi]

By most estimates Bush actually won the White Southern vote quite handily (R+13.)  Clinton's strength in the South was overwhelmingly powered by minority voters.

[WalterWhite]

By most estimates Bush actually won the White Southern vote quite handily (R+13.)  Clinton's strength in the South was overwhelmingly powered by minority voters.

Clinton's strongest Southern states were the ones in the Upper South. Clinton's strength in the South was overwhelmingly powered by voters in the Upper South, which have a lower minority population than Deep Southern states.

[King of Kensington]

Clinton 1996 vote

Alabama  43.2%
Arkansas  53.7%
Florida  48%
Georgia  45.8%
Kentucky  45.8%
Louisiana  52%
Mississippi  44.1%
North Carolina   44%
Oklahoma  40.5%
South Carolina  44%
Tennessee  48%
Texas  43.8%
Virginia  45.2%
West Virginia  51.5%

[King of Kensington]

Virginia (which genuinely flipped in 2008) and Georgia (still tight) are the best examples of where you can have a "minorities + college-educated white suburbanites" winning coalition in the Southern states. Clinton didn't win either in 1996.

[King of Kensington]

Interesting that Clinton won probably the two most WWC states in the country (WV and KY).

[TDAS04]

The white people in the South that Clinton performed well among were often the less prosperous whites, particularly in rural areas with few black people.

[ProgressiveModerate]

The white people in the South that Clinton performed well among were often the less prosperous whites, particularly in rural areas with few black people.

Ye. Even today, one can see compared to states like MS/AL/LA, TN/KY whites vote slightly less heavily R and occasionally see some significant downballot crossover in faovr of Dems.