elections_presidential_county_year
Presidential election results by county, 1976–2020. MIT Election Lab county-level returns with Democratic, Republican, and total votes and two-party share.
overview
All 3,153 US counties + DC + AK borough/census areas + ME towns (special handling). 2024 most recent cycle.
current vintage — 2024 general election
history — MIT county presidential returns: 2000 to present (limited 1976-1999 also available)
source & licensing
fields
| name | type | definition |
|---|---|---|
| _ingested_at | timestamp | Timestamp when this record was written to BigQuery.Pipeline metadata field. |
| _ingestor_version | string | Version of the ingestor script that produced this record.Pipeline metadata field. |
| _reliability_tier | string | Data quality tier (A/B/C) assigned at ingestion.Pipeline metadata field. |
| _source_dataset_id | string | Internal dataset identifier linking to meta.datasets.Pipeline metadata field. |
| country_id | string | ISO alpha-2 country code (always 'US' for domestic tables). |
| county_idkey | string | 5-character FIPS code identifying the county.Joins dim.counties on county_id. |
| data_version | int64 | Integer version identifier for the underlying source data, incremented when the provider publishes corrections or revisions to county-level election results. |
| dem_share_two_party_pct | float64 · percent (0–100) | Democratic share of the two-party vote, calculated as dem_votes / (dem_votes + rep_votes) × 100. Values above 50 indicate the Democrat outperformed the Republican among two-party voters. |
| dem_votes | int64 · count | Total votes cast for the Democratic presidential candidate in the county for the given election year. Higher values indicate greater Democratic voter turnout. |
| margin_change_4yr_pct_pts | float64 · percent (0–100) | Change in the two-party margin (margin_two_party_pct) relative to the prior presidential election four years earlier, in percentage points. Positive values indicate a shift toward Republicans; negative values indicate a shift toward Democrats. |
| margin_change_8yr_pct_pts | float64 · percent (0–100) | Change in the two-party margin (margin_two_party_pct) relative to the presidential election eight years earlier, in percentage points. Captures medium-term partisan drift; positive values indicate a Republican shift. |
| margin_two_party_pct | float64 · percent (0–100) | Two-party vote margin, calculated as rep_share_two_party_pct − dem_share_two_party_pct. Positive values indicate a Republican advantage; negative values indicate a Democratic advantage. |
| rep_share_two_party_pct | float64 · percent (0–100) | Republican share of the two-party vote, calculated as rep_votes / (dem_votes + rep_votes) × 100. Values above 50 indicate the Republican outperformed the Democrat among two-party voters. |
| rep_votes | int64 · count | Total votes cast for the Republican presidential candidate in the county for the given election year. Higher values indicate greater Republican voter turnout. |
| state_id | string | 2-character FIPS code identifying the state.Joins dim.states on state_id. |
| total_votes | int64 · count | Total ballots cast for all presidential candidates in the county for the given election year. Used as the denominator for vote share calculations. |
| winning_party | string | The party ('DEM' or 'REP') whose presidential candidate received the most total votes in the county for the given election year. |
| yearkey | int64 | Reference year of the observation. |
joins
how to use this table
County-level vote totals harmonized from state SOS reports. Margin = dem_share - rep_share. Note: pipeline uses non-standard sign convention (positive = Republican win) - see scorecard_v4 issues.
Precinct or ward-level analysis; primaries (general only); Alaska borough boundary changes pre-2008 without bridging.
Margin sign convention: positive = Republican win (non-standard). Alaska reports by state-house district, not borough; requires special handling. Some swing-state recount adjustments may not be reflected.