All the Romney Must-Win Counties
As discussed here , in 2012, Mitt Romney was expected to win back a series of counties that had a number of features in common. Amongst other things, they had in common that they had cast over 100,000 votes in 2008, and had voted for George W. Bush twice and against Bill Clinton at least once. They were also all in swing states, but there were a number of other 'beachhead' counties that had a similar electoral history, but were not paid as much attention because they were in solid red or solid blue states. These are all the counties across the nation that cast at least 100,000 votes in 2008 and voted for Bush twice and against Bill Clinton at least once before flipping to Obama in 2008, along with the number of votes they cast in 2012, their 2004 and 2008 margins, and how they went on to vote in 2012, 2016, and 2020. Counties that were frequently mentioned as 'Romney must-win counties' during the 2012 campaign are italicised. San Diego, CA (1,193,949) ( 52.45% - 46.33% ...