Why did OK County and Tulsa County vote McCain?

[okcsince1987]

I was looking at the larger cities in other states and it seems that all theirs voted Obama but ours voted McCain. Just wanted to know if anyone knew why. I'm not really into politics much so maybe I'm missing something. Maybe it's a stupid question.

[Midtowner]

Smarter people.

[kevinpate]

Of the minority of the populace who choose to vote, a majority, in each county, favored the thought of McCain/Palin at the helm of the ship than Obama/Biden.

The majority ticket devotes a tad more attention to God issues, a tad less to gay rights, a tad more to big business and a tad less to individual liberties. That's an over simplification, but not by much.

[okcpulse]

So... does that mean that people in Pheonix are stupid? Huh? Because McCain took Maricopa County, the most populous county in Arizona. I think you people are reading too much into this crap.

[lasomeday]

It is mainly because Tulsa and Oklahoma Counties aren't really in a recession and the other cities you are comparing are.

[shane453]

Because the counties are larger than the major cities in them.

[roci28]

Smarter people.

Seriously!!!

[Kerry]

Obama - Change you hope to believe in, or hope to believe in change, or... crap, I can't remember how it goes. Oh well, Yes we can... or did... or hope to do... or something like that.

I think I will go with Oklahomans being smarter.

[southernskye]

Seriously!!!

[soonerguru]

OKC voted Obama -- at least, "inside the loop." So did Tulsa. The burbs voted McCain by WIDE margins. Edmond was blood red. Norman also voted Obama.

Obama won every precinct in the loop of 1-235, 1-44 and 1-40. That's the OKC most of us think of when we think of OKC.

[sgray]

...because much of OK has a nice 'default' vote that they're cozy with. I'm certain that if you would have switched the candidates, Obama would have won OK because a lot of folks just want the republican ticket to win because, to them it is either 'the right thing morally', or they must 'vote by the book'..."if we keep our vote on that ticket, things will get better. They will...they must." I could understand their side if it wasn't always the same outcome...but come on people, the numbers are almost always the same in OK's general election, no matter who is running. That's the thing...it doesn't matter who's on the ticket. While our neighboring states are mostly red, at least things shift around when the candidates change.

CHECK OUT THESE NUMBERS FOR STATE-WIDE GENERAL ELECTION:
DIFFERENT CANDIDATES ON BOTH SIDES!!!

2004
R-BUSH 959,792
D-KERRY 503,966

2008
R-MCCAIN 959,808
D-OBAMA 502,286

Same 'ol, same 'ol...


Part of my reasoning is also based things such as Inhofe winning so much of the vote, like always. Again, doesn't matter who's on the ticket...loook at Istook and Coburn...just as motionless. On a serious note, not joking or poking fun, does anyone here have some good, solid reasons for keeping Inhofe our senator? I seriously want to know...because I cannot justify his existence, no matter what I try to give him credit for.

Just my 3 cents.

[NativeOkie]

Which areas have the highest welfare percentage?

[sgray]

...'percentage'? likely the areas with the highest population. Why?

[oneforone]

I am just curious......how much longer are we going to beat this dead horse?

Obama won so who really cares what counties he did or did not win.

The Mcain-Obama debate is nothing more than spliting hairs at this point.

[sgray]

Thats what I thought until someone started a new thread on the subject...and I just had to get in on the fun!

[kevinpate]

I hadn't realized there were fewer presidential votes cast in OK this time than there were in 04. That's mostly surprising in light of all the talk of getting the vote out this go around, from both sides.

[Kerry]

...because much of OK has a nice 'default' vote that they're cozy with. I'm certain that if you would have switched the candidates, Obama would have won OK because a lot of folks just want the republican ticket to win because, to them it is either 'the right thing morally', or they must 'vote by the book'..."if we keep our vote on that ticket, things will get better. They will...they must." I could understand their side if it wasn't always the same outcome...but come on people, the numbers are almost always the same in OK's general election, no matter who is running. That's the thing...it doesn't matter who's on the ticket. While our neighboring states are mostly red, at least things shift around when the candidates change.

CHECK OUT THESE NUMBERS FOR STATE-WIDE GENERAL ELECTION:
DIFFERENT CANDIDATES ON BOTH SIDES!!!

2004
R-BUSH 959,792
D-KERRY 503,966

2008
R-MCCAIN 959,808
D-OBAMA 502,286

Same 'ol, same 'ol...

Let me get the straight, are you saying the McCain voters voted for him just because he was the republican on the ticket while the Obama voters were judicial in their decision making process? In other words, if you switched the party affiliation Obama would have won 1,462,094 to 0. Or is it just possible that Obama voters are just as comfortable choosing a candidate (any candidate) with a 'D' next to their name.

[bombermwc]

Old people love their republicans, and we've got a crap load of old people. The particular groups of greys that always vote the old republican ticket are on their way out. The younger vote in OK is democratic and tolerant.

In this election you had as many people vote for one candidate as the other simply because of their race. There are a lot of African Americans that voted Obama for that reason alone (there were some interesting polls regarding their reasoning too) and same goes for the White vote. It's racist and stupid, but it happened.

The real urban vote here was Obama. You don't see that in the county vote because, as said earlier, the county involves more than the city. IE OK county also has Edmond.

I wasn't surprised in the least that OK voted McCain, but I was surprised that it was an all county thing.

Also keep in mind that here in OK, we've been pretty happy with our state government, which has been turning more republican and obviously went majority this time. Most other places, you'll find people were not happy and wanted to change....ie Congress. This was always the democrats election to lose....the national vote showed that. OK is always ignored by campaigns and doesn't mean crap in the electoral college. Our dinky 6 votes are worthless so even though McCain won the state, who cares.

I voted Obama and I'm a boring vanilla while suburban dweller. For once, I actually had a candidate I was excited for.

[Midtowner]

For the love of God...

"Democratic and tolerant"?

[soonerguru]

This thread is annoying. And yes, Midtowner, there are many tolerant Democrats -- and even a few Repubs, too.

Oklahoma County voted McCain because of Edmond, Choctaw and the burbs of Moore/S. OKC. Pretty much every other area of the city voted for Obama, except the Quail Creek belt in the northwest.

OKC is not unlike other cities. Obama did very well with urban voters nationwide. Where we were different is in our inner suburbs, which Obama carried pretty much throughout the country but not here.

I'm guessing the exit polling showing that 51 percent of Oklahoma voters were self-identified evangelicals was a factor in voting. My friend who attends a megachurch told me their preacher talked about the "antichrist" and clearly was inferring that Obama was the black Satan.

I'm sure we had our share of bigots, too, given the phone calling I made at the Obama headquarters. The "n" word was frequently used. Also, "commie," "socialist," etc. Also, there were a lot of people in Oklahoma who received mail from the NRA saying that Obama was going to confiscate their guns. Then we had all of the morons (probably a third of all voters in Oklahoma) who believe that Obama is a "secret Muslim."

I'm sure there were principled reasons to vote for McCain, but there sure were a lot of dumb, misleading or even hateful reasons to vote for him expressed by many Oklahomans.

The way things are going, however, is the OK county went much BLUER than in 2004, even more so than Tulsa County. I expect this trend to continue. Edmond will remain the bloodiest color of red for the foreseeable future, as flocks of people go to places like Henderson Hills Baptist Church to gin up outrage about the abortionist antichrist in the White House. Meanwhile, OKC will become more and more friendly to modern thinkers, who tend to be a little more liberal in their viewpoints, until OKC is an island of blue in a sea of red statewide.

[mecarr]

There's a reason why Oklahoma ranks last in so many different categories...

[metro]

I was looking at the larger cities in other states and it seems that all theirs voted Obama but ours voted McCain. Just wanted to know if anyone knew why. I'm not really into politics much so maybe I'm missing something. Maybe it's a stupid question.

I think the larger question is why do we have other forums on this website if nearly everyone lately is posting everything on every topic just about in OKC Metro Area just so it gets more views.

[hoya]

Oklahoma was never in question. That's why no candidates ever visit. Campaigning in Oklahoma would be a waste of money (it's like campaigning in Washington DC).

As you see by the earlier numbers, John McCain got a total of 16 extra votes over Bush. Obama garnered about 1,700 fewer votes than John Kerry. Yeah, we're a real racist state. Oklahoma voters are very predictable, especially when nobody bothers to spend any real time or money convincing them otherwise.

In general, our state has been doing well economically and we are happy with our local government. "Change" doesn't really sell as well here as it does in places like Ohio or Michigan, where the economy sucks. Why change if things are going good?

Obama won between 52 and 53% of the popular vote, depending on which sources you use (doing a little better than Bush's 51% in 2004). That's a solid win, but hardly a mandate. His electoral numbers were huge, because a small shift in votes was all it took to cause key large states to swing blue. The thing is, while a slight blue shift was enough in battleground states like Florida and Ohio, in Oklahoma it makes virtually zero difference.

[Midtowner]

There's a reason why Oklahoma ranks last in so many different categories...

True. Now that the Republicans are finally in control of state government for the first time since statehood, maybe we'll head in a different direction.

[okcpulse]

This thread is annoying. And yes, Midtowner, there are many tolerant Democrats -- and even a few Repubs, too.

Oklahoma County voted McCain because of Edmond, Choctaw and the burbs of Moore/S. OKC. Pretty much every other area of the city voted for Obama, except the Quail Creek belt in the northwest.

OKC is not unlike other cities. Obama did very well with urban voters nationwide. Where we were different is in our inner suburbs, which Obama carried pretty much throughout the country but not here.

I'm guessing the exit polling showing that 51 percent of Oklahoma voters were self-identified evangelicals was a factor in voting. My friend who attends a megachurch told me their preacher talked about the "antichrist" and clearly was inferring that Obama was the black Satan.

I'm sure we had our share of bigots, too, given the phone calling I made at the Obama headquarters. The "n" word was frequently used. Also, "commie," "socialist," etc. Also, there were a lot of people in Oklahoma who received mail from the NRA saying that Obama was going to confiscate their guns. Then we had all of the morons (probably a third of all voters in Oklahoma) who believe that Obama is a "secret Muslim."

I'm sure there were principled reasons to vote for McCain, but there sure were a lot of dumb, misleading or even hateful reasons to vote for him expressed by many Oklahomans.

The way things are going, however, is the OK county went much BLUER than in 2004, even more so than Tulsa County. I expect this trend to continue. Edmond will remain the bloodiest color of red for the foreseeable future, as flocks of people go to places like Henderson Hills Baptist Church to gin up outrage about the abortionist antichrist in the White House. Meanwhile, OKC will become more and more friendly to modern thinkers, who tend to be a little more liberal in their viewpoints, until OKC is an island of blue in a sea of red statewide.

Ugh, here we go again with some more of this red vs. blue mamba-jahamba. For the next election, why don't we go with different colors? How about banana-yellow? Aqua? Fuscia? Magenta? Burnt Sienna? Mango Orange? How about a nice touch of pastel green?

Seriously, the only time I want to see Red vs. Blue in front of my face is when I am downloading XBOX 360 Halo episodes. And since I am now officially registered as an Independant (as in I don't hang off the red or blue titty), I guess I will be purple.