California went to Clinton, but rural areas were split, says the Sacramento Bee, with many counties in the white, rural north going to Trump. “Trump beat Clinton in 25 California counties, mostly in the Central Valley and the mountains of Northern California, places that long have been bastions of conservatism,” says the Bee. “But in 14 California counties, Trump won really big — beating Clinton by at least 10 percentage points and earning a higher share of votes than Mitt Romney did in 2012.”
These 14 counties, almost all of which are located north of Sacramento, represent just 2 percent of the state’s total, but 25 percent of its total land. While the majority of California is made up of minorities, these Trump counties are on average 75 percent white. They also are losing population as young people go elsewhere. And even though housing remains affordable there, “economic and health conditions in many cases have reached a crisis point. Suicide rates are double the rates elsewhere in the state. So are accidental drug overdose rates. Incomes are relatively low, with a third of households making less than $30,000 a year,” says the Bee.
But not all rural counties voted alike in California. Southern counties with strong Latino populations, like Imperial and San Benito, went for Clinton. “So did several counties with demographics similar to the 14 counties in “Trump Country,” places such as Nevada County, Humboldt County, Mendocino County and Alpine County,” says the Bee.