Analysis of votes cast for president on November 4, 2008, shows that the percentage of white Alabama voters who supported President-Elect Barack Obama was the lowest in the country, at only 10%.
While in most states, President-Elect Obama obtained at least a third of the white vote, in the Deep South states of Alabama (10%), Mississippi (11%), and Louisiana (14%), there was an unprecedented lack of support among white voters for the Democratic presidential candidate.
White voters in Alabama provided only half the support for Barack Obama that was given to 2004 Democratic nominee John Kerry, who received 19% of the white vote.
Barack Obama is the first African-American nominee of the Democratic Party and the first black President-Elect of the United States.
The meager support for Barack Obama among white Alabama voters did not dampen the historical significance of this election for Alabamians who lived through the struggle to secure African Americans the right to vote.
In his victory speech, President-Elect Obama referenced Alabama's pivotal role in that struggle. Local African American leaders continue to maintain that too little progress has been made confronting Alabama's notorious racial discrimination and oppression despite historic sacrifices and advocacy efforts.