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I tried to look this up once. From what I can tell no Democratic Presidential candidate has won Ogle County, Illinois since at least 1840. Before the Republican Party arose it was "Whig country." The only non-Republican Presidential candidate to win the county was Teddy Roosevelt when he ran as a Progressive. However it's just the most consistently Republican not really the most strongly Republican.
Ottawa County, Michigan is both consistently and strongly Republican. The last Democratic Presidential candidate to win the county was George B. McLellan in 1864. McCain won the county with 61.03%. No Democratic candidate for governor has carried the county in at least 20 years. Around 70% of "straight ticket" voters are Republican.
In modern times Ochiltree County, Texas is about the most consistently/solidly Republican. In 1996 and 2004 it gave the highest percentage for the Republican Presidential candidate. In most other Presidential elections from Reagan to present it was in the top 5. It has not went for a Democratic candidate for governor in about 20 years.
The most Democratic county I think is the Bronx. Although one of those Texas counties on the Mexican border I think is very close. Duval County, Texas was last won by the Republican Presidential candidate in 1904 and went solidly for McGovern.
I know my hometown of Johnson County, Iowa has voted Democratic for the past 50 years now. It's a university town, so normally it's at least a 20-30% spread in favor of the democrats. In 2008 it was roughly 25% to 70%.
I did a little browsing the elections on Wikipedia and saw some stuff but it'd be nice to have it all laid out by rank and file:
Top 100 Consistently Republican Counties...Top 100 Consistently Democratic Counties ....wouldn't it?
Well, as my grandma used to say, "Wish in one hand...."
Well I don't know about the most republican county (probably somewhere in Texas, the Mountain West, or Deep South), but in the last presidential election Prince George's County here in Maryland provided Obama with his largest winning percentage (89.5%). The 89% of voters in Bronx County (the Bronx) who voted for Obama/Biden, was actually slightly less than the PGC percentage.
It's not really surprising that Prince George's had the highest percentage since they have the best selection of Obama's best demographic: educated, wealthy, and minority. Prince George's County is a minority-majority county and the wealthiest one in the country.
Technically though, the District of Columbia (which borders Prince George's County), actually had the highest percentage (93%).
As for the most Democratic states (apart from DC), I would say (in this order):
1. Massachusetts
2. Vermont
3. New York
4. Maryland
5. Rhode Island
(yep, no California--it's not really as liberal/Democratic as it's perceived to be)
I was meaning a little more long term (10-20 elections) one way or another (not sure if you picked up on that...I'm sure DC and probably parts of Maryland are also *consistently* Dem as well as *solidly* Dem though so alls well far as I can tell...)
There's always this map:
Open source from Wikipedia: Red=The Republican candidate carried the state in all four most recent presidential elections (1996, 2000, 2004, 2008). Pink=The Republican candidate carried the state in three of the four most recent elections. Purple=The Republican candidate and the Democratic candidate each carried the state in two of the four most recent elections. Light blue=The Democratic candidate carried the state in three of the four most recent elections. Dark blue=The Democratic candidate carried the state in all four most recent elections
But I mean even deeper.
If I remember correctly, from clicking through every single 'Presidential election results' page on Wikipedia...and scrolling down to the 'county results' map, even Seattle voted Republican a few times (Reagan for example...but even Vermont voted statewide for Reagan...or Nixon sheesh! What a landslide!) after 1880 ...or whenever it was that the parties started to get all weird and backwards with their ideologies and the states that supported them.
(Weird to me here in the present at least.)
Anyways.
Thanks for all the posts so far...and those, hopefully, still to come...
I was just meaning in terms of consistency on the Bronx. PGC went for Nixon twice, the Bronx didn't. Still I didn't do as good on the Democratic end.
Going by the Cook Partisan Voting Index Washington, DC is the most Democratic district outside New York City. The Democratic candidate won by the highest margin in DC in 1992, 2004, and 2008.
DC has been in the top 5 "most Democratic" list since 1984. It has never had a Republican mayor, although it did not have mayors before the 1970s. The Council of DC has no Republicans and just two independents.
For another staunchly Democratic county there is St. Louis County, Minnesota which is known for Duluth. The last Republican Presidential candidate to carry St. Louis County was Herbert Hoover in 1928. Democratic candidates usually receive over 60% of the county's vote. Republicans also have lost the county in Senate and Gubernatorial races since, at least, 1990.
On the other matter other staunchly Republican counties, with long histories of being GOP, include
Sioux County, Iowa - FDR in 1936 was the last time it went Democratic. From 1992 to present the Republican candidate has always received over 70% of the vote.
Jackson County, Kentucky - If I read it right they have not gone for a Democratic Presidential candidate for 50-60 years or more and have not gone for a Democratic gubernatorial candidate for over 30 years. Wendell Wilkie, George W. Bush, and John McCain all received over 80% of the county's vote. Jackson is also only represented by Republicans in the state legislature. They are a county with many "poor whites" but, as the success of Wilkie indicates, they voted Republican before that was quite so common among "poor whites."
In terms of states Gallup indicates the following.
States in both the "Most Liberal" and "Most Democratic" lists. (I do not count DC as a state)
Massachusetts
Vermont
Hawaii
New York
Connecticut
California
States in both the "Most Conservative" and "Most Republican" lists.
Alabama
Mississippi
Utah
North Dakota
Idaho
Wyoming
Looking at voting histories from 20 years ago isn't very useful - state political climates have changed.
I think we can all agree that Oregon and Washington won't be voting for Republican presidential candidates anytime soon. Add Hawaii, Vermont, and Massachusetts to that list. California is less predictable I think.
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