ELECTORAL VOTES 8

2012 ELECTION Safe Republican

ABOUT
LOUISIANA

2010 Census Reapportionment: Largely due to outward migration after Hurricane Katrina, Louisiana will lose one electoral vote, giving it 8 for the 2012, 2016 and 2020 presidential elections.



Louisiana, created mostly, but not entirely, from land bought from France in the Louisiana Purchase, became a state in April 1812. Louisiana seceded from the Union during the Civil War and did not participate in the 1864 election. The state’s electoral votes were rejected in 1872 due to irregularities. Like many southern states, Louisiana voted Democratic from Reconstruction through World War II. Although perceived as solidly Republican today (John McCain won over Barack Obama by a margin of 59% to 40% in 2008), Louisianans haven’t been quite as “red” as their Gulf Coast brethren in the intervening period. From 1948 through 1968, the state voted twice for Democrats, twice for Republicans, and twice for third-party candidates. The state has also favored southern Democratic governors in recent years, voting for Jimmy Carter in 1976 and Bill Clinton in both 1992 and 1996.