How did whites in different parts of the country vote in the 2024 Presidential election? There is usually analysis of how different age groups vote, how the sexes vote, and sometimes even how whites of different religious denominations vote, but seldom of how whites vote by region. Although in our circles, it is common to regret that women do not vote Republican as often as men, the white vote is determined more by region than by sex. Regional differences can be very large.
We got our 2024 exit-poll data here. It is true that exit polls can shift a point or two for particular states in the future, but not enough substantially to change the regional and state differences we present here. We divided the country into regions that we called Pacific Coast, Interior West, Midwest, Alaska, Northeast, and South.
Conclusion
Politically, whites are far more divided by region than by sex. Southern white men have more in common politically with Southern white women than they do with white men in other regions. Regional differences are largely a religious headcount, with the South being the most religious and most politically conservative region. Other regions are similar to the South politically, to the extent that they share heritage with the South as in parts of the Midwest and Interior West and perhaps even Alaska.
New England and the West Coast are the most irreligious parts of the country and had some of the lowest percentages of whites voting for Mr. Trump. The South is the most Protestant region, and white evangelicals are concentrated there.
Vermont and West Virginia are two of the whitest states, but couldn’t be more different in religious and cultural makeup, which clearly divides their politics. Although men generally voted more enthusiastically than women for Mr. Trump, region had a much stronger effect on voting patterns than sex, and the largest sex gaps were mostly concentrated in the Northeast. In the South — in Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia, specifically — white women actually outvoted white men for Mr. Trump.
