akashic
1876–2024
Bolivar County, Mississippi
Bolivar County·Mississippi

Bolivar County was solidly one party for decades. In the last twenty years, it flipped.

A majority-Black Delta county where Democrats routinely post 20-point margins

18762024·38 elections
Bolivar County, Mississippi · Hamhari Brown · Wikimedia Commons
Latest
D+24
in 2024
Archetype
Populist
since the recent cycles
Population
29,534
2024 ACS
Most similar
Lee County
SC · similarity 1.00
30 precincts · 10,435 votes cast
Harris · D+24
Margin
Turnout
Harris +50
Trump +50
Real precinct boundaries. Hover for vote totals.
YearWonMarginDemocraticRepublicanTotal
2024D
+23.7%
6,4193,94310,435
2020D
+30.8%
8,9044,67113,744
2016D
+32.2%
9,0464,59013,824
2012D
+38.1%
10,5824,70115,428
2008D
+35.4%
10,3344,89115,381
2004D
+26.8%
9,6315,53515,307
2000D
+26.5%
8,4364,84713,538
1996D
+35.2%
8,6704,02713,176
1992D
+28.5%
8,8014,75214,226
1988D
+10.7%
7,6066,10514,085
1984D
+11.6%
8,7696,93915,824
1980D
+25.5%
8,8395,14814,491
1976D
+18.8%
7,5615,13612,875
1972R
−33.8%
3,6167,39711,187
1968D
+25.3%
4,6961,79011,504
1964R
−73.0%
7314,6805,411
1960D
+2.8%
1,1191,0123,769
1956D
+12.0%
1,1767543,511
1952R
−6.4%
1,8432,0963,939
1948D
+3.6%
2191152,914
1944D
+73.2%
2,4443782,822
1940D
+85.4%
2,9742343,209
1936D
+91.6%
2,2961012,397
1932D
+80.8%
1,9412042,151
1928D
+75.9%
1,9392662,205
1924D
+60.1%
1,2122661,574
1920D
+52.0%
1,0393261,370
1916
No data
000
1912D
+88.2%
32410356
1908
No data
1904
No data
1900D
+32.2%
380194577
1896D
+48.6%
360117500
1892D
+70.8%
23425295
1888
No data
1884
No data
1880
No data
1876
No data
Demographics
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
American
100.0%
Polish
1.3%
African American
50.6%
Multiple ancestry combinations reported; no single grouping above 1%.
American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander combined.
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release. Ancestry is a self-reported, multiple-response item; ancestry percentages do not sum to the parent race percentage.
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
0.0%
speak English only
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Baptist
22.7%
Other Christian
13.5%
Methodist
6.6%
Mainline Protestant
3.6%
Catholic & Orthodox
3.5%
Pentecostal & Holiness
2.9%
Non-Christian
0.4%
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 46.8% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.

Bolivar County sits in the heart of the Mississippi Delta, where a majority African American population and persistent rural poverty have produced some of the most reliably Democratic presidential margins in the state for decades.

The Democratic margin in Bolivar County peaked at ninety-two points in 1936. By 1976 the county had flipped, voting Republican for the first time in many years. The 2024 margin was twenty-four points, the most Democratic-leaning result in the county's modern history.

The economic context is the key. Bolivar County's median household income of $39,585 sits well below state and national norms, and 33% of residents live below the federal poverty line. The shift here is part of a broader realignment of working-class places across the country. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Lee County and Bamberg County.