Editing Cape Girardeau County, Missouri (section)

====Political culture====
{{PresHead|place=Cape Girardeau County, Missouri|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 24, 2018}}</ref>}}
<!-- PresRow should be {{PresRow|Year|Winning party|GOP vote #|Dem vote #|3rd party vote #|State}} -->
{{PresRow|2024|Republican|29,315|10,561|661|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|2020|Republican|28,907|10,760|759|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|2016|Republican|27,017|8,492|1,802|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|2012|Republican|25,370|9,728|731|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|2008|Republican|24,768|12,208|470|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|2004|Republican|23,814|10,568|183|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|2000|Republican|19,832|9,334|693|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1996|Republican|15,557|9,957|2,108|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1992|Republican|13,464|9,605|5,286|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1988|Republican|16,583|7,904|69|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1984|Republican|17,404|7,346|0|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1980|Republican|14,861|8,625|1,063|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1976|Republican|12,607|10,440|117|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1972|Republican|15,693|6,280|0|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1968|Republican|10,298|6,656|2,351|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1964|Democratic|8,776|11,431|0|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1960|Republican|11,331|8,172|0|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1956|Republican|10,638|7,633|0|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1952|Republican|10,729|7,933|22|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1948|Democratic|7,084|7,872|15|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1944|Republican|8,339|6,845|11|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1940|Republican|9,297|8,642|39|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1936|Democratic|7,374|8,892|64|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1932|Democratic|5,796|8,394|117|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1928|Republican|7,344|5,464|21|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1924|Republican|6,076|4,967|623|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1920|Republican|7,537|4,584|152|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1916|Republican|3,753|2,993|127|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1912|Democratic|2,203|2,587|1,064|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1908|Republican|3,381|2,621|89|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1904|Republican|3,090|2,187|210|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1900|Republican|2,778|2,318|187|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1896|Republican|2,482|2,473|49|Missouri}}
{{PresRow|1892|Republican|2,203|1,996|407|Missouri}}
{{PresFoot|1888|Republican|2,198|1,894|216|Missouri}}

Cape Girardeau County is something of an outlier in southern Missouri. Unusually for a rural [[Southern United States|Southern]] county (straddling the [[Mississippi embayment]]), it has generally voted Republican since the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], this was due to Unionist sentiment in the county. In contrast, much of southern Missouri was solidly Democratic for much of the 20th century before swinging heavily Republican at the turn of the millennium.

After voting for Lincoln in 1864 and Grant in 1868, Cape Girardeau County voted Democratic four times in a row. Since 1888, it has voted Democratic only in Franklin Roosevelt's and Lyndon Johnson's 40-state landslides of 1932, 1936, and 1964; in the three-way race in 1912 (when it gave Woodrow Wilson a plurality); and for Missouri native Harry Truman in 1948. Unlike most demographically similar counties, it rejected [[Jimmy Carter]] in 1976; Carter is the last Democrat to manage even 40 percent of the county's vote.<ref>{{Cite web|title=County winners, 1836-2016|url=https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZmDRzvm83BYurKX7LsrET-C7tcIsE5Em42Wt-gTydXk/edit?usp=embed_facebook|access-date=January 16, 2021|website=Google Docs|language=en-US}}</ref>

Like most areas throughout rural Missouri, voters in Cape Girardeau County generally adhere to socially and culturally [[Conservatism|conservative]] principles which have influenced their shift to Republicans. In 2004, Missourians voted on [[Missouri Constitutional Amendment 2 (2004)|a constitutional amendment to define marriage as the union between a man and a woman]]—it overwhelmingly passed Cape Girardeau County with 83.19 percent of the vote. The initiative passed the state with 71 percent of support, as Missouri became the first state to ban [[same-sex marriage]]. In 2006, Cape Girardeau County voted against a state [[Missouri Constitutional Amendment 2 (2006)|constitutional amendment to fund and legalize embryonic stem cell research]], with 63.12 percent opposed. The initiative narrowly passed the state with 51 percent of support, and Missouri became one of the first states to approve such research. Cape Girardeau County's voters have supported such [[Populism|populist]] causes as increasing the [[minimum wage]]. In 2006, Cape Girardeau County voted to increase the minimum wage to $6.50 an hour with 60.04 percent of the vote. The proposition strongly passed every county in Missouri, with 75.94 percent voting in favor. (During the same election, voters in five other states also strongly approved increases in the minimum wage.)