akashic
1876–2024
Blackford County, Indiana
Blackford County·Indiana

Blackford County was solidly one party for decades. In the last twenty years, it flipped.

One of Indiana's smallest counties, with margins that rarely surprise

18762024·38 elections
Blackford County, Indiana · Nyttend · Wikimedia Commons
Latest
R+50
in 2024
Archetype
Populist
since the recent cycles
Population
11,950
2024 ACS
Most similar
Jay County
IN · similarity 0.99
12 precincts · 5,136 votes cast
Trump · R+50
Margin
Turnout
Harris +50
Trump +50
Real precinct boundaries. Hover for vote totals.
YearWonMarginDemocraticRepublicanTotal
2024R
−50.3%
1,2273,8115,136
2020R
−46.1%
1,3763,8415,351
2016R
−43.2%
1,2433,3504,881
2012R
−16.5%
1,9272,7114,760
2008R
−0.2%
2,6772,6905,441
2004R
−28.7%
1,9033,4475,380
2000R
−12.2%
2,1032,6994,893
1996D
+5.2%
2,3352,0705,130
1992R
−4.5%
2,0882,3475,778
1988R
−19.3%
2,2533,3365,608
1984R
−22.3%
2,3953,7876,230
1980R
−12.4%
2,4313,1685,962
1976D
+4.7%
3,1742,8866,120
1972R
−25.2%
2,3113,8766,219
1968R
−2.4%
2,8983,0526,504
1964D
+24.3%
4,2102,5526,829
1960R
−7.3%
3,2283,7387,009
1956R
−9.9%
3,1523,8557,071
1952R
−8.7%
3,1443,7597,066
1948D
+11.6%
3,6112,8406,641
1944D
+2.0%
3,2073,0796,439
1940D
+9.9%
4,0953,3527,530
1936D
+19.2%
4,2172,8457,145
1932D
+16.8%
4,0882,8907,130
1928R
−20.0%
2,5763,8826,541
1924R
−6.6%
3,0943,5536,953
1920R
−9.7%
2,5553,1456,073
1916D
+7.3%
1,8671,5953,706
1912D
+34.5%
1,6513993,624
1908D
+8.9%
2,2141,8354,258
1904R
−9.4%
2,0582,5214,906
1900D
+1.6%
2,1912,1214,489
1896D
+2.6%
2,2722,1544,501
1892D
+4.7%
1,3401,2032,935
1888
No data
1884
No data
1880
No data
1876
No data
Demographics
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
American
100.0%
Sample size too small to break out by ancestry reliably.
Multiple ancestry combinations reported; no single grouping above 1%.
Sample size too small to break out by ancestry reliably.
American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander combined.
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release. Ancestry is a self-reported, multiple-response item; ancestry percentages do not sum to the parent race percentage.
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
0.0%
speak English only
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Other Christian
9.9%
Pentecostal & Holiness
5.3%
Methodist
5.3%
Mainline Protestant
3.6%
Catholic & Orthodox
2.6%
Baptist
0.9%
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 72.4% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.

Blackford County's roughly 14,000 residents have delivered lopsided Republican presidential margins for more than a decade, reflecting a broader rural northeast Indiana pattern where manufacturing decline and demographic homogeneity reinforce low electoral competitiveness.

The Democratic margin in Blackford County peaked at thirty-five points in 1912. By 2000 the county had flipped, voting Republican for the first time in many years. The 2024 margin was fifty points, the most Republican-leaning result in the county's modern history.

The economic context is the key. Blackford County's median household income of $51,326 sits well below state and national norms, and 16% of residents live below the federal poverty line. The shift here is part of a broader realignment of working-class places across the country. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Jay County and Stark County.