While the election results seemed close, fewer U.S. counties are enjoying competitive presidential election votes, according to the latest study by Dave Wasserman in FiveThirtyEight.
In 1992, 1,096 counties of 3,113 were decided by less than 10%. This year, only 303 counties were that close. And while only 93 counties won by landslides (more than 50%) in 1992, that number jumped to 1,196 during 2016.
Why it matters: Wasserman points out that this will make our elections even nastier in the future, if the trend holds. But closer to the present, the trend emphasizes the geographic hurdle Democrats face and hope to change in 2020 with redistricting and the presidential elections.
