Changing Allegiances
The second cluster solution is informed by changes in vote margins between consecutive elections years (1992-96, 1996-00, 2000-04 and 2004-08). Blue counties have had consistent increases in Democratic support, with the exception of a slight shift toward Republican support in 2000. Light blue counties denote a dramatic shift toward Republican support in 1996 and 2000, but steady Democratic gains in 2004 and 2008. Blue purple counties are also distinctly shift-prone: they became more Democratic in 1996, more Republican in 2000 and 2004, ending with a sudden Democratic upswing in 2008. The light red purple counties have had steady Republican increases until the 2008 elections, which spurred a marked rise in Democratic support. The differences between the light red and red counties are slight, but significant. While both have had consistent increases in Republican support between 1992 and 2004, the light red counties demonstrated neither an increase nor decrease in Republican support in 2008. On the other hand, the red counties showed increased Republican support in the last election.