Scorecard 2004 vs 2000

[Airbornelawyer]

Final tallies might change, but here's an observation:

In every state except one, Bush received a higher percentage of the vote than he did in 2000. That is 50 out of 51 states plus DC (in DC he went from 8.95% to 9.25%). Only Vermont went the other way, from 40.7% in 2000 to 38.9% in 2004. Among Bush's strongest improvements were 4 "9-11 voter" states: New York (+5), New Jersey (+6), Connecticut (+6) and Hawaii (+8).

Kerry improved on Gore's totals in 23 states and DC. Only in Vermont was this at Bush's expense. In the other states it was basically from Nader voters.

In Pennsylvania in 2000, Gore and Nader together took 52.7% of the vote, with Gore getting 50.6%. They kept Nader off the ballot this time, and Kerry got ... 50.8%.

In North Carolina, Gore got 43.2% of the 2000 vote. In 2004, with a North Carolina senator as running mate, Kerry got ... 43.5% of the vote.

Of course, let's not pick on Edwards. In 2000 in Massachusetts, Bush received 32.5% of the vote to Gore's 59.8%. The party nominated a Massachusetts senator for President, and that favorite son added 2.3%, to 62.1%. Bush added 4.5%, to 37%. But it's even worse in the Bay State: Gore and Nader together took 66.2%. They kept Nader off, and Kerry lost 4%.

So if anyone tells you the conventional wisdom is that the country remains divided 50/50, and the result is the red states got redder and the blue states bluer, they are wrong. Except for Vermont, every state got redder.