Obama skips over red states

David Jackson | USA TODAY

Presidents tend to travel to places where political supporters live -- which is why President Obama doesn't visit a lot of red states.

In his years as president, Obama has not visited the Republican states of North Dakota, South Dakota, Arkansas, Idaho, Utah and South Carolina, The New York Times notes.

The Republican-leaning states of Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Tennessee and Wyoming have received one presidential visit each.

Now, there's not a lot Obama can do to help himself or his party in most of these states.

But some observers say Obama's avoidance of a quarter of the nation's states may harden the nation's red state-blue state divide.

"You're president of the whole country," said Al Cross, director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues at the University of Kentucky, to the Times.

Of course, Obama spends more time in blue or purple states teeming with Democratic and moderate voters.

The Times, using data provided by Mark Knoller of CBS News, noted that Obama has visited the swing states of Ohio 39 times, Florida 30 times, and Colorado 19 times.

Reports the Times:

"Mr. Obama's near-complete absence from more than 25 percent of the states, from which he is politically estranged, is no surprise, in that it reflects routine cost-benefit calculations of the modern presidency. But in a country splintered by partisanship and race, it may also have consequences.

"America's 21st-century politics, as underscored by the immigration debate now embroiling Congress, increasingly pits the preferences of a dwindling, Republican-leaning white majority against those of expanding, Democratic-leaning Hispanic and black minorities. Even some sympathetic observers fault Mr. Obama for not doing all he could to pull disparate elements of society closer.

"'Every president should make an attempt to bridge the divide,' said Donna Brazile, an African-American Democratic strategist. 'It's a tall order. I wouldn't give him high marks.'"