Slicing and dicing the actual election returns, by state and by urban, exurban and rural

Tim Murphy and Bill Bishop analyze election returns and report in the Daily Yonder that Barack Obama carried the rural vote in 12 states: California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Mexico, South Carolina (the only Southern state in the list), Vermont and Wisconsin. To read the report, click here.

One of the story's excellent, color-coded tables also shows the partisan shift in rural, exurban and urban areas in each state from 2004. The only state in which all three categories had a Republican "red shift" was Louisiana. The only two states in which rural voters were the sole category with such a shift were Kentucky and West Virginia.

The state-by-state table shows Republican gains in dark red. Categories in pink (Alabama urbanites, for example) went Republican by a smaller margin than in 2004. Democratic gains appear in dark blue. Sorry the numbers aren't plain; for a larger image, click on the table. You may still have to increase the zoom view in your browser to get it to full, readable size.