Analysis Shows Great Voting Divide in Jefferson County, A Win for Ben Carson

Sherrel Stewart | March 4, 2016

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Less than 10 miles separate the two largest voting boxes in Jefferson County, but the results in Tuesday’s Republican primary show a world of differences between folks voting in Hoover at Hunter Street Baptist Church and in Bessemer at Pleasant United Methodist Church.

A WBHM analysis of votes at Jefferson County’s largest polling places shows Marco Rubio was the top vote-getter at Hunter Street on John Hawkins Parkway. A few miles down on Interstate 459, a majority of Republican voters chose Donald Trump in the Pleasant Hill area.

Hunter Street is located in the 35244 zip code where the median household income is $76,469 and 6.3 percent of the residents are in poverty, according to Census estimates. Pleasant Hill is in the 35022 zip code where the median income is $30,369 and 32 percent of the residents are in poverty.

While Trump, the Republican frontrunner, won Jefferson County, he did not fare as well in Over the Mountain communities as he did in west and north Jefferson County.

Marco Rubio pulled in 812 votes or 38 percent at Vestavia Hills United Methodist Church, compared with 542 votes or 25 percent for Trump at that location.

Rubio also had the largest percentage of votes at the Hoover Parks and Recreation Center, Lakeside Baptist Church, Homewood Public Library, and Prince of Peace Catholic Church.

Trump drew his strongest support in large boxes such as the Gardendale Civic Complex where he had 1,001 votes. Texas Senator Ted Cruz was second in that box on the Republican side with 745 votes, and he was consistently second in many of the large boxes in north and east Jefferson County. Trump also showed strong numbers at Trussville First Baptist Church and the Clay Community Center.

Although he ran a consistent fourth or fifth among Jefferson County Republican voters, Ben Carson did have some success. He tied with Donald Trump at Legion Field, the largest polling place in inner city Birmingham. Both Carson and Trump received two votes from the total 1,672 cast.

Carson was also the top Republican vote-getter at another Birmingham polling place – Sixth Avenue Baptist Church in Titusville. Fifteen people voted Republican out of 1,078. Carson received five votes, compared with three each for Trump and Rubio and two each for Cruz and Ohio Governor John Kasich.

The smallest polling box in Jefferson County is in Booker Heights, where there are 70 registered voters. A majority of the voters there on Tuesday – 29 – voted Democrat and chose Hillary Clinton. Two votes there went to Trump and one to Cruz.

For the Democrats, Hillary Clinton won at all of the 18 boxes reviewed by WBHM with more than 4,000 registered voters. The greatest support for Bernie Sanders was at the Hoover Parks and Recreation Center where he received 260 votes compared to Clinton’s 556.