A sparsely populated
Great Plains state with a predominantly
White populace and electorate, North Dakota has not voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since
Lyndon B. Johnson won it in his nationwide
1964 landslide. Furthermore, it has only been decided by single digits in three presidential elections since 1964:
1976,
1996, and
2008.
Agribusiness and the
recent oil boom have played a key role in cementing the GOP's overwhelming dominance in the state. North Dakota has one of the highest percentage of Native Americans in the country, a constituency that has been relatively solidly Democratic in the past. In 2024, however, Native Americans shifted heavily to the right, with North Dakota's Native population following that trend.
Sioux County, North Dakota's most Native American county, shifted harder to the right than any county in the state. North Dakota is considered a deeply
red state, and Republican nominee and former president
Donald Trump won it by over 30 percentage points in both
2016 and
2020. In terms of popular vote percentage, North Dakota was
Libertarian candidate
Chase Oliver's strongest state, with 1.7 percent. == See also ==