On average, 24 percent of U.S. counties change allegiance in a presidential election, voting for a different party than they did four years earlier. This year, only 208 counties (6.8%) flipped — a 100 year low.
There aren't that many overwhelmingly Democratic counties in rural America. But there's good variety — warm, cold, hip, poor, rich, black, white and brown.
Looking for more Republicans? The Daily Yonder is here to help, with the 50 rural and exurban counties with the highest percentage of Republican vote in the last election.
In more than 72 percent of rural and exurban counties, Mitt Romney won with more than 55 percent of the vote — a landslide in this otherwise close election.
Turnout in rural counties was down by over 3 million votes in 2012 compared to 2008. Seventy percent of that decrease comes from Democratic Party totals.
In October, a National Rural Assembly poll found Mitt Romney winning rural voters in nine swing states by 22 points. By the time the election came, that massive lead had been reduced to a smidgen over 10.
In the western swing states (Iowa, Nevada and Colorado), President Obama saw a decline in both his total votes and his margins from 2008. But he won anyway because of strong tallies in urban counties.
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