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County-level presidential election voting trends, 2012-2020

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Date: November 3, 2020
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In presidential elections from 2012-2020, 459 counties voted for Barack Obama (D), Hillary Clinton (D), and Joe Biden (D). The total population of these counties was 170,597,434, or 51.6% of the United States population in 2020. 2,368 counties voted for Mitt Romney (R) and Donald Trump (R) twice. The total population of these counties was 117,847,640, or 35.6% of the population in 2020. The remaining 285 counties voted for a candidate from both parties in at least one election across the three years. The total population of these counties was 42,270,734, or 12.7% of the population in 2020.

Ballotpedia's analysis of county-level election results examines the results in a county over a series of three consecutive presidential elections. We then apply one of four categories to that county based on those results: Solid, Trending, Battleground, or New. A county is further categorized as either Democratic or Republican based on their most recent election results. To learn more about Ballotpedia's previous coverage of county-level presidential election results, click here.

On this page, you will find:

For analysis on voting trends in the 2016, 2020, and 2024 elections, click here.

Definitions

Ballotpedia uses four categories to describe a county's voting pattern based on the three previous presidential elections: Solid, Trending, Battleground, and New. In addition to these categories, a county is also determined as either Democratic or Republican based on how it voted in the most recent election. Click [show] on the table below for examples:

National overview

The map below shows county-level presidential election results from 2012 to 2020. A county shaded blue voted for Biden in 2020 and a county shaded red voted for Trump

County lists

Click on the tabs below to view lists of all counties included in this analysis broken down by party, as well as populations and margins of victory from 2012 to 2020.

Election results by state

Click on a tab below to view voting trend information for that specific state.

Following the 2020 presidential election, 77.1% of Alabamians lived in one of the state's 52 Solid Republican counties, which voted for the Republican presidential candidate in every election from 2012 to 2020, and 22.2% lived in one of 13 Solid Democratic counties. Overall, Alabama was Solid Republican, having voted for Mitt Romney (R) in 2012, Donald Trump (R) in 2016, and Donald Trump (R) in 2020. Use the table below to view the total number of each type of county in Alabama following the 2020 election as well as the overall percentage of the state population located in each county type.

Background

Ballotpedia first began analyzing presidential election results with our research on Pivot Counties, the counties that voted for Obama in 2008 and 2012 before voting for Trump in 2016. When we analyzed those county's voting patterns and included 2020, we added terms—Retained and Boomerang—to describe counties that voted for either Trump or Biden, respectively.

See also

Footnotes

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Pivot Counties, 2020
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2016 reports


  1. ↑ This analysis includes Maryland's 23 counties and the independent city of Baltimore.
  2. ↑ This analysis includes Missouri's 114 counties and the independent city of St. Louis.
  3. ↑ This analysis includes Virginia's 95 counties and 38 independent cities, which are treated as county-equivalents for census purposes.
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