By Tim Murphy and Bill Bishop

Barack Obama's Vote In The Cities Overwhelmed Rural

editor — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 08:52:06 -0800

Barack Obama's advantage over John McCain totalled 8 million votes. One out of seven of those votes came from Cook County, Illinois, where Obama won by more than 1.1 million votes. Here some of Sen. Obama's neighbors wait in Grant Park for the final tally on Election Day night.
Photo: Taekwonweirdo

How much did Sen. Barack Obama depend on urban votes to win the presidency? This much:

John McCain built a 5 million-vote advantage in 2,553 rural and exurban counties. Obama wiped out that margin in just ten urban counties. (See list of both candidates' top 15 counties below.)

(Editor's Note: See an updated listed and map of the counties that switched parties from the 2004 presidential contest to this year's election. Go here for a full accounting of all flipping counties.)

It is, of course, misleading to consider only Obama's city votes as crucial to his victory. After all, the president-elect won more than 9 million votes in rural America. Without those, he wouldn't be selecting his cabinet today.

Them Changes: The Counties That Switched Parties in 2008

editor — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 18:59:43 -0800

Map: Tim Murphy, for the Daily Yonder

The map above shows the counties that flipped on November 4. They are the places where a majority of voters supported one party for president in 2004 but a different party in this election.

There are 375 counties that switched allegiance between the last race for president and this one. Of those, 44 counties supported Democrat John Kerry in 2004 but Republican John McCain this year.

There are 331 counties that flipped in the other direction, that voted for Republican George W. Bush in 2004 and Democrat Barack Obama this year.

The Yonder has a full listing of these counties. For the 113 urban counties that switched — including Hiilsboro Co., Florida (Tampa) and Fayette Co., Kentucky (Lexington) — go here.

For the 213 rural counties (including Alamosa Co., Colorado, and Audubon Co., Iowa), go here.

For the 49 exurban counties (including Oconto Co., Wisconsin, and King and Queen Co., Virginia), go here.

So, Who IS Getting All Those Congressional Earmarks?

editor — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 06:18:25 -0700

These are the ten states that have received the most earmark money per person. The chart also breaks down how those earmarks were distributed between rural and urban communities.

Congress divvies up the pork in federal budget earmarks, sending billions to pay for special projects around the country. Sen. John McCain has railed against earmarks in his presidential campaign and Congress has promised reform. But what the Daily Yonder wants to know is whether rural America getting its fair share of the bacon?

The answer is, yes indeed.

Is The Past Prologue? Looking At The 2004 Rural, Urban And Exurban Vote

editor — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 06:30:30 -0700

Photographer Giles Clement found a McCain supporter in Eastern North Carolina (left). I.a.n.M photographed an Obama barn in Michigan.

You can't keep score without a scorecard, so today the Yonder presents a handy dandy, state-by-state accounting of the 2004 presidential vote in rural, exurban and urban communities. As state polls come out over the next few weeks, use the chart to compare this election to the George Bush vs. John Kerry contest four years ago.

To get to the chart, just click on "read more."

The 2004 race was starkly divided between rural and urban. Democrat Kerry carried urban counties by 3.75 million votes. President Bush, however, won the nation's 2,049 rural counties by 4.1 million votes and exurban counties by 2.56 million.

A mid-September poll of rural voters in 13 battleground states found McCain to be pulling ahead of Obama. The Yonder will have a new poll of rural voters next week that should show whether McCain has extended this lead in rural counties or whether Obama is catching up.

Minority Youth Are Majority In Many Southern, Southwestern Rural Counties

editor — Wed, 1 Oct 2008 05:25:53 -0700

The Census Bureau predicts that the white population in the United States will dip below half of the national total by 2042. The Bureau's previous estimate was that whites would lose their majority status in 2050, a sign that the growth of minority populations in the U.S. is speeding up.

Previously, the Yonder listed and mapped the rural and exurban counties where minorities constituted a majority of the population, and those places where minorities are soon to become the majority. This week, we examine the rural counties where minorities are the majority among residents under age 20.

The Yonder has pulled out those rural and exurban counties where minorities under the age of 20 constitute a majority of the youth population.

We list the counties where minorities under 20 years of age constitute between 40 and 50 percent of the youth population and counties where that minority youth population group has grown by at least 2.5 percent since 2000. We labeled these counties as "tipping," since their minority youth will soon become the majority.

The map above the lists below show the rural and exurban counties where minorities are a majority of the youth population. Green counties have Hispanic majorities. Orange counties have black majorities. Pinkish counties have majorities of Native American youth. Blue counties are bi-racial and red counties are tri-racial.

Find your state and county here (there are no counties with minority-majority youth in the East region):

South

Midwest

West