Mississippi has not voted Democratic since 1976. Since that time, Republicans have dominated the state's political elections, and so Trump was widely expected to win the state. Indeed, Trump carried it with 57.86% of the vote, while Clinton received 40.06%.[2] Trump's 17.80% margin of victory was a 6.30% increase over the 11.50% margin of victory by which Republican nominee Mitt Romney won the state over Barack Obama in 2012. This also marked the first time since 1988 that Madison County voted more Democratic than the state as a whole. Trump became the first Republican to win the White House without carrying Oktibbeha County since Richard Nixon in 1968, as well as the first to do so without carrying Copiah, Pike, or Yazoo Counties since Ronald Reagan in 1980.