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Vigo County's Streak Is Broken As a Bellwether Of Picking Presidents

For the first time since 1952, Vigo County has not correctly picked the President.

The county’s clerk reports President Donald Trump received 56 percent of the vote, while President-elect Joe Biden received 41 percent.

Experts say Vigo County’s 68-year streak was more a function of good luck than demographics. The county is whiter and less racially diverse than the rest of the United States.

Matthew Bergbower is a Political Science Professor at Indiana State University.

 
"Vigo County misses on a lot of those metrics. So things like education attainment, race and diversity,
average age, average income, we are not necessarily like the nation on most of those metrics, if not all of
them. You will find counties that are closer to the national average for sure, than Vigo County," Bergbower said. 

 
Bergbower and other experts point out the county—like much of Indiana—has leaned right in recent years. Had the electoral college not produced a different winner in 2000 and 2016, the streak would have ended then.