Editing Columbia County, Arkansas (section)

=== Politics ===
Columbia County's political history is deeply unusual for a county dominated by a university, as it is deeply conservative despite most college counties being Democratic strongholds.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-07-21 |title=‘This Is a Really Big Deal’: How College Towns Are Decimating the GOP |url=https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/07/21/gop-college-towns-00106974 |access-date=2025-03-08 |website=POLITICO |language=en}}</ref> Like most fellow Southern counties, Columbia County was once a [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] stronghold during the 19th century and most of the 20th century, before shifting rapidly towards [[Republican Party (United States)|Republicans]] in the late 20th century. While other Southern counties remained solidly Republican, Columbia County joined several of its fellow Arkansan counties in voting for native son [[Bill Clinton]] before it continued shifting towards Republicans in the 21st century. Republicans have generally seen slowly increasing margins (with the exception of a 0.1% decrease in 2008), with [[Donald Trump]] securing nearly 68% of the vote in 2024, the best result a Republican has ever seen in the county other than [[Richard Nixon]]'s 1972 landslide. 

In 2014, voters overturned a 71-year-old prohibition against the sale of alcoholic beverages in the county.<ref>{{cite web |title=Election results: Columbia County goes wet, Vann wins Magnolia mayor's race, Blair new county treasurer |url=http://www.magnoliareporter.com/news_and_business/local_news/article_17c16af2-64a7-11e4-9531-fbc1f09749fd.html |work=Magnolia Reporter – Magnolia, Arkansas News}}</ref> 
{{PresHead|place=Columbia County, Arkansas|source=<ref name="DL">{{cite web|title=Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections|url=http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/|access-date=November 18, 2016}}</ref>}}
<!-- PresRow should be {{PresRow|Year|Winning party|GOP vote #|Dem vote #|3rd party vote #|State}} -->
{{PresRow|2024|Republican|5,367|2,466|107|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|2020|Republican|5,500|2,814|302|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|2016|Republican|5,456|3,140|291|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|2012|Republican|5,790|3,557|108|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|2008|Republican|5,861|3,554|143|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|2004|Republican|5,729|4,108|72|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|2000|Republican|5,018|4,003|286|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1996|Democratic|3,376|4,730|876|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1992|Democratic|3,702|4,747|1,370|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1988|Republican|5,810|3,706|286|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1984|Republican|6,526|3,680|79|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1980|Republican|5,259|4,445|263|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1976|Democratic|4,287|4,708|6|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1972|Republican|5,801|2,193|29|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1968|American Independent|1,916|2,487|3,843|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1964|Republican|4,009|3,485|39|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1960|Democratic|2,372|2,427|806|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1956|Democratic|2,342|2,845|207|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1952|Democratic|1,931|3,359|9|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1948|Democratic|217|1,788|976|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1944|Democratic|394|2,145|4|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1940|Democratic|149|2,270|3|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1936|Democratic|64|1,847|0|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1932|Democratic|85|2,420|10|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1928|Democratic|617|1,752|1|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1924|Democratic|350|1,382|63|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1920|Democratic|857|2,052|17|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1916|Democratic|721|2,074|0|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1912|Democratic|340|1,101|209|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1908|Democratic|817|1,613|30|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1904|Democratic|554|1,445|31|Arkansas}}
{{PresRow|1900|Democratic|606|1,440|16|Arkansas}}
{{PresFoot|1896|Democratic|537|2,159|11|Arkansas}}