Alabama Primary Facts and Figures

Compiled by the U.S. News & World Report library staff

Presidential Primary Winners

Democrats

• 1988 Jesse Jackson
• 1992 Bill Clinton
• 1996 Bill Clinton
• 2000 Al Gore
• 2004 John Kerry

Republicans

• 1988 George H. W. Bush
• 1992 George H. W. Bush
• 1996 Bob Dole
• 2000 George W. Bush
• 2004 George W. Bush

Source: Alabama secretary of state, America Votes (CQ Press)

2008 Election Voter Registration*

Race

• White, non-Hispanic: 1,862,054
• Hispanic: 6,488
• Black, non-Hispanic: 615,878
• Asian or Pacific Islander: 6,793
• American Indian or Alaskan Native: 5,957
• Total: 2,526,710 (including others and unknown)

Source: Alabama secretary of state

* Through December 2007; includes active registrations only.

General Election Winners

• 1988 George H. W. Bush
• 1992 George H. W. Bush
• 1996 Bob Dole
• 2000 George W. Bush
• 2004 George W. Bush

Source: Alabama secretary of state, America Votes (CQ Press)

Exit Poll Demographics

2004 Election

Gender

• Male: 46%
• Female: 54%

Race

• White: 73%
• African-American: 25%
• Latino: 1%
• Other: 1%

Age

• 18-29: 18%
• 30-44: 28%
• 45-59: 29%
• 60 and older: 24%

Source: CNN.com Election 2004

3 Things You Didn't Know About Alabama Primaries and Elections

1. Alabama's 1966 Democratic primary was the first notable election held in the South since the passage of the Voting Rights Act. For the first time since Reconstruction, blacks voted in significant numbers. Between the act's 1965 passage and the May 1966 primary, 122,000 black voters registered in Alabama, representing a quarter of the state's registered voters. In Dallas County alone, where fewer than 1,000 black voters were registered in 1965, black voters' registrations surged to a total of 10,300 compared with 12,500 white registrants.

2. During the post-World War I years, the practice of presidential primaries fell out of favor with the American public because of costs and poor turnout; Alabama was the only state to enact a new primary law between 1917 and 1931.

3. Historically, Alabama's African-Americans—26 percent of registered voters—have a history of voting in an impenetrable bloc. In 1988, Jesse Jackson won the primary over Al Gore and Michael Dukakis, among others. While Jackson did not get a majority of the total primary vote, black voters were cohesive enough to give him a healthy plurality on a crowded ballot and within the Alabama delegation at the Democratic National Convention.

Sources:
CQ.com
Protest at Selma: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Voting Rights Act of 1965
New York Times