Editing Benton County, Mississippi (section)

==Politics==
{{PresHead|place=Benton County, Mississippi|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 5, 2018}}</ref>}}
<!-- PresRow should be {{PresRow|Year|Winning party|GOP vote #|Dem vote #|3rd party vote #|State}} -->
{{PresRow|2024|Republican|2,535|1,318|31|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|2020|Republican|2,570|1,679|40|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|2016|Republican|2,251|1,719|52|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|2012|Democratic|2,041|2,051|24|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|2008|Republican|2,329|2,227|82|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|2004|Democratic|1,969|2,245|33|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|2000|Democratic|1,561|1,886|34|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1996|Democratic|993|1,944|229|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1992|Democratic|1,253|2,402|300|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1988|Democratic|1,565|1,718|26|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1984|Republican|1,737|1,715|14|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1980|Democratic|1,254|2,094|79|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1976|Democratic|790|2,375|44|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1972|Republican|1,483|701|51|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1968|American Independent|185|850|1,630|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1964|Republican|934|236|0|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1960|Democratic|175|568|348|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1956|Democratic|108|786|50|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1952|Democratic|216|963|0|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1948|Dixiecrat|11|118|681|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1944|Democratic|42|852|0|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1940|Democratic|24|935|0|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1936|Democratic|10|1,717|0|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1932|Democratic|8|814|1|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1928|Democratic|47|793|0|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1924|Democratic|35|541|3|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1920|Democratic|124|405|6|Mississippi}}
{{PresRow|1916|Democratic|38|718|0|Mississippi}}
{{PresFoot|1912|Democratic|18|489|34|Mississippi}}
In presidential elections, Benton County was historically a '[[Solid South]]' county for most of the 20th century, voting Republican only in the Nixon and Reagan landslides of 1972 and 1984, as well as for Goldwater in 1964. It also voted for third-party candidates Strom Thurmond in 1948 and George Wallace in 1968, instead of for the regular Democratic tickets. In the 21st century, it has trended Republican. In 2008, it was one of forty-four counties to switch from John Kerry to John McCain.<ref>{{Cite web|date=November 14, 2008|title=Them Changes: The Counties That Switched Parties in 2008|url=https://dailyyonder.com/them-changes-counties-switched-parties-2008/2008/11/14/|access-date=January 29, 2021|website=Daily Yonder|language=en-US}}</ref> It was the only one of these forty-four to flip to Obama in 2012, in kind with a scattering of counties in or near the [[Black Belt in the American South|Black Belt]], but Trump carried it in 2016 with 56%, the highest vote share the county had given any nominee since 1996. In 2020, Trump improved his vote share in the county by 3.9%, approaching 60% even as he lost nationally.