With the Presidential Election of 2012 just six months away, and with the increasing polarization of the nation shown by the Indiana Senatorial nomination results and West Virginia negative vote in the Democratic primary against Barack Obama, it is instructive to examine the 2008 Presidential Election results.
22 states voted against Barack Obama and for John McCain in 2008, with Obama gaining 53 percent of the vote against 46 percent for McCain nationally, and winning 28 states and the District of Columbia. Obama had a popular vote lead of 9.5 million over McCain.
But in those 22 states that voted for McCain, the McCain majority was as follows in ranked order:
Oklahoma 65.65
Wyoming 64.78
Utah 62.58
Idaho 61.53
Alabama 60.32
Alaska 59.42
Arkansas 58.72
Louisiana 58.56
Kentucky 57.40
Tennessee 56.90
Kansas 56.61
Nebraska 56.53
Mississippi 56.18
West Virginia 55.71
Texas 55.45
S. Carolina 53.87
Arizona 53.64
North Dakota 53.25
South Dakota 53.16
Georgia 52.20
Montana 49.52
Missouri 49.43
So going by the standard that 55 percent is a landslide, that means all but seven of the 22 states were landslides, and allow for Missouri, Montana, Georgia and even Arizona as possible turnovers, with growing Hispanic and Latino populations, and the relatively close vote, particularly in Missouri and Montana. South Carolina and the two Dakotas are not seen as possible turnovers, and with the two Dakotas so small in population in any case, no attention will be paid to those states by the Obama campaign.