Politically competitive counties have become even less common Contested counties, by presidential election year 800 600 400.. '76 '80 '84 88 '92 '96 '00 '04 '08 12 Landslide counties, by presidential winner
When it comes to presidential elections, there are fewer competitive counties, and more counties in which Democrats or Republicans hold overwhelming vote advantages, than at any time in the past three decades or so – on-the-ground evidence of the heightened partisan polarization that characterizes U.S. politics today.
In the 2012 election, there were only 275 counties – less than 9% of all counties and county-equivalents in the nation – in which fewer than 5 percentage points separated Democrat Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of county-level voting data. That was the fewest closely contested counties since Ronald Reagan’s landslide re-election in 1984.
Politically competitive counties have  | become even less common  | Contested counties, by presidential election year  | 800  | 600  | 400..  | 200  | '76 '80 '84 88 '92 '96 '00 '04 '08 12  | Landslide counties, by presidential winner  | 1,000  | Re publican  | Democrat  | 800  | 600  | 400  | 200  | '76 '80 '84 88 192 '96 '00 00 '08 12  | Note: Contested" counties are those in which the  | Re publican and Democratic presidential vote differed by  | fewer than which 5 percenta either ge points Landslide" counties are  | those in which either party won 70% or more of the  | preside untial vote.  | Source: Pew Research Center analysis of CQ Press data  | PEW RESEARCH CENTER 