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Illinois 9th most Democratic state in last six presidential elections

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Illinois

* A friend pointed me to a chart at Daily Kos yesterday which shows presidential results by states ranked most Democratic to least Democratic. Since 1992, Illinois has been in the top eleven of the most Democratic states (ten, if you don’t include the non-state Washington, DC). Click the pic for a larger image…

Our average over the past six elections is ninth. Yet, we had ten years of Republican governors in the time period covered, although there haven’t been any in a decade.

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Nov 27, 12 @ 9:18 am

Comments

why did obama 2012 do worse in Il than clinton 96? perot?

Comment by shore Tuesday, Nov 27, 12 @ 9:30 am
shore, you mean in the rankings? Because the percentage was the same.

Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Nov 27, 12 @ 9:36 am
10 years of GOP governors — back when the Combine was working at full strength.

Comment by Anonymour Tuesday, Nov 27, 12 @ 9:41 am
Interesting to note Arkansas and West Virginia have gone red.
And now with the Democrats in complete control come January, it will be interesting to see, if they can get something of substance done about the debt and pensions or make us more and more like California. Remember, California only hangs on because of the beautiful weather and oceans and mountains.

Comment by Downstater Tuesday, Nov 27, 12 @ 9:52 am
clinton got 59.6 in 96 to obama’s 58.6 in 2012. the perot factor has to be in that number because you would think obama would also get a homestate bump. I would also like to know who that 5 percent of the vote obama lost from 08 in Illinois was.

Comment by shore Tuesday, Nov 27, 12 @ 10:06 am
I’m with Shore on this one. you would think the Obama percentage would be higher.

Comment by amalia Tuesday, Nov 27, 12 @ 10:11 am
Rhode Island has had 16 years of Republican govs/Vermont has had 8-just shows the ineptitude of the Illinois GOP that they can’t turn even local issues their way either.

Comment by OurMagician Tuesday, Nov 27, 12 @ 10:18 am
Downstater, the Dems don’t all vote one way. What are your ideas for “getting something of substance done about the debt and pensions”?

Can’t wait for your suggestions. Thanks in advance.

Comment by PublicServant Tuesday, Nov 27, 12 @ 10:32 am
Looking at these numbers it seems almost impossible that Republicans ever win statewide here.

Comment by Johnny Q. Suburban Tuesday, Nov 27, 12 @ 10:43 am
Since 1992, the high-water mark for the GOP candidate in the electoral college is 286; the lowest total for the Dem candidate is 251.

In every election during that time, the Dem candidate has won California, New York, IL., PA., NJ, Maryland, the New England states, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Oregon and Washington.

Ohio, VA, Colorado and Florida have gone to the Dem the last two times. NC is a true swing state.

The GOP Southern Strategy is dead. You have to run the table to win that way.

Comment by wordslinger Tuesday, Nov 27, 12 @ 10:53 am
=Downstater, the Dems don’t all vote one way. What are your ideas for “getting something of substance done about the debt and pensions”?=
Pensions- Increase contributions by participants, increase retirement age, limit annual increases and transfer pension funding to local government entities on phased-in basis over a number of years.
Debt- Roll back and freeze spending at 2009 levels for the next two years and then limit increases to rate of inflation.
Place a constitutional amendment on the ballot to put in place a progressive income tax.
And hope and pray the bond market rates stay at today’s levels for the next 2 to 4 years. Otherwise, the increased interest rates will create a severe cash flow problem.

Comment by Downstater Tuesday, Nov 27, 12 @ 11:39 am
=== Roll back and freeze spending at 2009 levels for the next two years===

I believe agency approps are already below FY 2008 levels.

Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Nov 27, 12 @ 11:49 am
Thanks for the plan bud, but, unfortunately, your first three pension ideas are illegal for tier 1 employees due to the pension clause and contract law.

Your debt plan is simplistic in that health care has been rising at much more than the general rate of inflation for, well, pretty much for ever, and why 2009 anyway? Got a reason?

I’m with you on a progressive income tax.

Prayer is always good, and given the safe haven that state bonds represent, I’m apparently not as worried as you are about the bond rate boogyman as you seem to be.

Comment by PublicServant Tuesday, Nov 27, 12 @ 11:57 am
The chart isn’t showing percentage of overall votes - it’s excluding third parties.

In 1992, Clinton got 2,453,350 votes, Bush got 1,734,096 votes, and Perot got 840,515 votes in Illinois. Clinton got less than half the overall votes — but its 58.6% of the Dem/Rep total if you exclude others.

Comment by Some Guy Tuesday, Nov 27, 12 @ 1:31 pm
=Prayer is always good, and given the safe haven that state bonds represent, I’m apparently not as worried as you are about the bond rate boogyman as you seem to be.=
It’s not the risk of default. It is the higher interest costs. Illinois is paying about 2 times the rate it should pay due to the poor rating.

Comment by Downstater Tuesday, Nov 27, 12 @ 1:37 pm
Illinois paid 3.62%. That’s pretty darn good, since I pay 4.875 for my 15 year mortgage, and I don’t have the 83 billion debt that the state has.

Comment by PublicServant Tuesday, Nov 27, 12 @ 1:44 pm
=== Illinois is paying about 2 times the rate it should pay due to the poor rating. ===

=== Illinois paid 3.62%. That’s pretty darn good ===

How does Illinois’ 3.62% compare to other states? Is it roughly twice as much? More? Less?

Comment by S. Dolopoulos Tuesday, Nov 27, 12 @ 1:51 pm