Pivot Counties in Mississippi

2020 Election Analysis: Pivot Counties
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Pivot Counties are the 206 counties nationwide Ballotpedia identified as having voted for Barack Obama (D) in the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections and Donald Trump (R) in 2016. Media and political observers sometimes refer to these counties as swing counties.

Following the 2016 presidential election, Mississippi had two Pivot Counties.

Ballotpedia defines Pivot Counties Trump won in 2020 as Retained Pivot Counties and those Joe Biden (D) won as Boomerang Pivot Counties.

After the 2020 presidential election, both were Retained Pivot Counties.

List of Pivot Counties

See also: Election results, 2020: Pivot Counties in the 2020 presidential election, Presidential election in Mississippi, 2020

The table below lists the Pivot Counties in Mississippi. These counties accounted for 2.44 percent of the total counties in Mississippi, and 3.09 percent of the state population.

Analysis of Mississippi counties won by Trump in 2016 and Obama in 2012 and 2008 following the 2020 presidential election
County	State	Winner, 2020	Margin of Victory, 2020	Trump Margin of Victory, 2016	Obama Margin of Victory, 2012	Obama Margin of Victory, 2008
Chickasaw County	Mississippi	Retained	+4.48	+6.06	+4.52	+2.13
Panola County	Mississippi	Retained	+4.2	+0.12	+8.62	+6.52

The map below shows Retained Pivot Counties in Mississippi shaded bright red.

2020 analysis

Voter turnout

See also: Election results, 2020: Voter turnout in Pivot Counties

Mississippi has two Retained Pivot Counties, 2.4% of the state's 82 total counties. Turnout in these counties accounted for 1.81% of the statewide total turnout.

Voter turnout in Mississippi and its Pivot Counties
	Votes cast	Voting age population	Turnout	Contribution to statewide turnout
Overview
Mississippi	1,313,686	2,228,665	58.94%	-
Retained Pivot Counties	23,768	38,005	62.54%	1.81%

County-specific
	Votes cast	Voting age population	Turnout	Contribution to statewide turnout
Chickasaw	8,141	12,740	63.90%	0.62%
Panola	15,627	25,265	61.85%	1.19%

Demographics

See also: Election results, 2020: Demographics of the 206 Pivot Counties

This table displays demographic data, on average, by county compared to nationwide and statewide averages with a focus on Pivot Counties. Use the arrows at the top of the table to view 2016 data and changes from 2016 to 2020. Full demographic data can be found here.

2016 analysis

HIGHLIGHTS

There were two counties in Mississippi that voted for Donald Trump in 2016, and Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012.

3.09 percent of the population of Mississippi resided in these two counties.

Since 1960, Pivot Counties in Mississippi have matched the national election result in 70.00% of presidential elections.

Voting trends

The table below details the voting trends of the Pivot Counties in Mississippi since 1960.

Presidential Elections in Mississippi Pivot Counties since 1960
County	Elections won by Republican Presidential candidate		Elections won by Democratic Presidential candidate		Elections matching national result
	Elections	Percentage of elections	Elections	Percentage of elections	Elections	Percentage of elections
Chickasaw County, Mississippi	7	46.67%	6	40.00%	11	73.33%
Panola County, Mississippi	6	40.00%	7	46.67%	10	66.67%
Average	7	43.33%	7	43.33%	11	70.00%
Median	7	43.33%	7	43.33%	11	70.00%

2016 election results

See also: Presidential election in Mississippi, 2016

In 2016, Mississippi had six electoral votes, which was 1.1 percent of the 538 electoral votes up for grabs and 2.2 percent of the 270 electoral votes needed to win the general election. Presidential primary elections in Mississippi took place on March 8, 2016. Hillary Clinton won the Democratic primary with 82.5 percent of the vote. Donald Trump won the Republican primary with 47.2 percent.

General election

U.S. presidential election, Mississippi, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes	Electoral votes
	Democratic	Hillary Clinton/Tim Kaine	40.1%	485,131	0
	Republican	Donald Trump/Mike Pence	57.9%	700,714	6
	Libertarian	Gary Johnson/Bill Weld	1.2%	14,435	0
	Green	Jill Stein/Ajamu Baraka	0.3%	3,731	0
	Constitution	Darrell Lane Castle/Scott Bradley	0.3%	3,987	0
	American Delta	Rocky De La Fuente/Michael Steinberg	0.1%	644	0
	Prohibition	Jim Hedges/Bill Bayes	0.1%	715	0
Total Votes				1,209,357	6
Election results via: Mississippi Secretary of State

Primaries

Mississippi Democratic Primary, 2016
Candidate	Vote %	Votes	Delegates
Hillary Clinton	82.5%	187,334	31
Bernie Sanders	16.6%	37,748	5
Martin O'Malley	0.3%	672	0
Roque De La Fuente	0.2%	481	0
Willie Wilson	0.4%	919	0
Other	0%	10	0
Totals		227,164	36
Source: Mississippi Secretary of State and The New York Times

Mississippi Republican Primary, 2016
Candidate	Vote %	Votes	Delegates
Jeb Bush	0.4%	1,697	0
Ben Carson	1.4%	5,626	0
Chris Christie	0.1%	493	0
Ted Cruz	36.1%	150,364	15
Carly Fiorina	0.1%	224	0
Lindsey Graham	0%	172	0
Mike Huckabee	0.3%	1,067	0
John Kasich	8.8%	36,795	0
George Pataki	0%	135	0
Rand Paul	0.2%	643	0
Marco Rubio	5.3%	21,885	0
Rick Santorum	0.1%	510	0
Donald Trump	47.2%	196,659	25
Totals		416,270	40
Source: Mississippi Secretary of State and The New York Times

See also

• List of Pivot Counties - the 206 counties that voted Obama-Obama-Trump
• Pivot Counties by state
• Presidential election, 2016