Editing Nash County, North Carolina (section)

=== Politics ===
From the turn of the 20th century North Carolina established barriers that effectively [[disenfranchisement after the Reconstruction Era|disfranchised]] the large black population, which had been supporting Republican candidates. Conservative whites voted overwhelmingly Democratic and the county and state were part of the resulting political "[[Solid South]]" county. Although it gave a plurality to [[Populist movement (United States, 19th Century)|Populist]] candidate [[James B. Weaver]] in 1892, unlike [[Sampson County, North Carolina|Sampson County]] or Alabama's [[Chilton County, Alabama|Chilton County]], it did not subsequently turn to the Republican Party.

Nash County would vote Democratic in every election from 1896 to 1964 – in [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] and [[Harry S. Truman]]'s five elections, the Republicans never received eleven percent of the county's limited electorate's ballots. Many whites supported [[George Wallace]]'s American Independent candidacy in 1968, after passage of the Voting Rights Act. More voted Republican for the first time in 1972.

While Nash voters supported favorite son and Southern Democrat [[Jimmy Carter]] in 1976, the county's majority white voters shifted to Republican candidates from 1980 to 2004. But the last four elections have been closely contested. The margin of victory has been less than 1,000 votes in every election since.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections |url=https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/ |access-date=December 22, 2022 |website=uselectionatlas.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| title = Anatomy of a swing state: What these 6 counties tell us about the upcoming NC election| newspaper = The Charlotte Observer| date = November 4, 2022| url = https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/election/article267776257.html| access-date = November 4, 2022}}</ref> Nash County has emerged in recent years as a swing county and a [[bellwether]] county. As of 2024, it is the only North Carolina county to support the winning U.S. presidential election four times in a row, supporting [[Barack Obama]] in 2012, [[Donald Trump]] in 2016, [[Joe Biden]] in 2020, and Trump in 2024. In 2024, it also split its majority vote between Republican and Democratic statewide candidates.<ref>{{cite news| title = NC county gets presidential prediction right yet again by backing Trump in 2024| newspaper = The Charlotte Observer| date = November 7, 2024| url = https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/election/article295135114.html| access-date = November 10, 2024}}</ref>

{{PresHead|place=Nash County, North Carolina|source=<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS|title=Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections|last=Leip|first=David|website=uselectionatlas.org|access-date=March 16, 2018}}</ref>}}
<!-- PresRow should be {{PresRow|Year|Winning party|GOP vote #|Dem vote #|3rd party vote #|State}} -->
{{PresRow|2024|Republican|26,431|25,508|532|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|2020|Democratic|25,827|25,947|497|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|2016|Republican|23,319|23,235|1,111|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|2012|Democratic|23,842|24,313|337|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|2008|Republican|23,728|23,099|291|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|2004|Republican|21,902|15,693|78|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|2000|Republican|17,995|12,376|142|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1996|Republican|15,309|11,142|1,811|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1992|Republican|14,446|10,809|4,631|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1988|Republican|15,906|8,740|76|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1984|Republican|17,295|8,588|34|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1980|Republican|11,043|8,184|374|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1976|Democratic|8,477|8,937|202|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1972|Republican|12,679|4,503|579|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1968|American Independent|4,602|5,283|9,230|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1964|Democratic|6,396|9,163|0|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1960|Democratic|3,896|10,086|0|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1956|Democratic|2,665|9,969|0|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1952|Democratic|2,636|10,424|0|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1948|Democratic|684|7,590|302|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1944|Democratic|876|7,577|0|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1940|Democratic|613|8,456|0|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1936|Democratic|517|8,682|0|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1932|Democratic|532|7,472|49|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1928|Democratic|2,066|4,249|0|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1924|Democratic|823|3,129|131|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1920|Democratic|1,556|4,031|0|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1916|Democratic|826|2,189|19|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1912|Democratic|172|1,862|618|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1908|Democratic|1,334|1,678|0|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1904|Democratic|645|1,428|6|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1900|Democratic|1,337|2,600|0|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1896|Democratic|1,699|2,916|1|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1892|Populist|476|997|1,333|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1888|Democratic|1,719|2,181|0|North Carolina}}
{{PresRow|1884|Democratic|1,556|1,845|0|North Carolina}}
{{PresFoot|1880|Democratic|1,406|1,612|0|North Carolina}}