Pew Research Center

FOR RELEASE SEPTEMBER 6, 2005

Political Division Multipliers

President Bush’s margin last year over Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, 2.4 percentage points, was the smallest of any victorious presidential incumbent in history. He won a very close election. But in most of the country, the 2004 race wasn’t even close to being close. A Pew Research Center analysis shows that in the majority […]

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Pew Research Center, September 2005, "Political Division Multipliers"

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Political Division Multipliers

President Bush’s margin last year over Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, 2.4 percentage points, was the smallest of any victorious presidential incumbent in history. He won a very close election. But in most of the country, the 2004 race wasn’t even close to being close. A Pew Research Center analysis shows that in the majority […]

President Bush’s margin last year over Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, 2.4 percentage points, was the smallest of any victorious presidential incumbent in history. He won a very close election.

But in most of the country, the 2004 race wasn’t even close to being close. A Pew Research Center analysis shows that in the majority of the nation’s 3,153 counties, the election was a landslide — with either Mr. Bush or Mr. Kerry winning by a margin of at least 20 percentage points.

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