Obama wins 44% of Mississippi voters, highest Democratic win only after Clinton

[ashtonelijah]

Republican nominee Mitt Romney won 664,000 votes, according to an unofficial count by The Associated Press. In 2008, the GOP's John McCain won 725,000. President Barack Obama's total fell to 523,000, down 30,000 votes from 2008 to 2012. Figures are rounded.

Obama won 43.7 percent of the vote in Mississippi. While that's not close to victory, it's the second-best performance of any Democrat in the last eight election cycles. Only better was the 44.1 percent of Mississippi ballots that Bill Clinton garnered in his 1996 re-election win.

An exit poll hinted that some Republicans weren't entirely sold on Romney. Most voters said they strongly favored their candidate. Roughly 1 in 6 said they liked their choice "but with reservations." People answering that way were overwhelmingly Romney voters.

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Also unclear is whether a better Democratic showing means Mississippi could become winnable for Democrats.

Some analysts have pointed to Georgia as the next North Carolina, a once solidly Republican state that becomes a battleground. Romney's 53 percent to 45 percent margin in Georgia was close to his 55-44 margin in Mississippi.

"I think the demographics of Mississippi have changed faster than people have recognized," said Derrick Johnson, state president of the Mississippi NAACP. "I think sooner than people realize, it's going to be in play in national politics."

But Mississippi's voters are among the most racially polarized in the country. Only about 1 in 10 white Mississippi voters chose Obama Tuesday, while more than 9 in 10 black voters backed the president.

The share of black Mississippians is slowly rising. But if racial and party identification remain synonymous in Mississippi, it could be a long time before a Democrat carries the state's six electoral votes.

http://blog.gulflive.com/mississippi-press-news/2012/11/vote_total_falls_in_mississipp.html

[BlueDemKev]

1. Mississippi...

...this two-minute video explains it ALL:

[dsc]

2. We would have to greatly improve among whites or

see a big increase in minorities to have a shot. Even then, I think as our party becomes more pro gay we will do worse in MS.

[bluestateguy]

3. Getting just 20% of white votes in that state would put it in play

But even that seems a bridge too far.

[TardisBlue]

4. Race definitely dictates the perceived party affiliation.

If you're white, then other white folks just assume you're 'with them' in the Republican party. Those folks just don't know what to make of a white Democrat in Mississippi when they discover you don't think like them. What is so baffling to me are the people I consider to be smart and educated (not the stereotypical 'redneck' in the video) that truly believe that Romney was a great candidate and President Obama is single-handedly ruining our country because _________________ fill in the blank. They are so misinformed and have such closed minds. When a conversation gets started that I can't easily change the subject I always say, 'You should know I'm a Democrat, do you want to keep talking about this or should we move on to something else?' Most just want to change the subject and look at you like you're a strange bug... not necessarily dangerous or unpleasant but they're pretty sure they should get away from you as soon as possible.

Even with all this I do have hope that Mississippi will become more purple, and even blue, as time goes on.