While perceived as politically neutral and only somewhat liberal-leaning at the time of passage in 1961, the district swung dramatically toward the Democratic Party in the years after passage. African Americans voted in more significant numbers than they had in the 1940s and 1950s with the clearing away of restrictions on the vote, and their share of the district electorate increased; according to the 1970 census, 71% of the federal district was black, a dramatic jump. In line with black voters' strong support for the Democrats, the district has sent its three electoral votes to the Democratic candidate in every single presidential election since 1964, including the 1984 landslide re-election of President Reagan, where only the District of Columbia and Minnesota voted for Democratic candidate Walter Mondale. The district's electoral votes have never proven decisive in a presidential election; the smallest Electoral College majority won by a Democratic president since the Twenty-third Amendment's ratification was Jimmy Carter's 57 point win in 1976.
While perceived as politically neutral and only somewhat liberal-leaning at the time of passage in 1961 the district swung dramati,cally toward the Democratic Party in the years after passage African Americans voted in more significant numbers than they had in the 1940s and 1950s with the clearing away of restrictions on the vote, and their share of the district electorate increased; according to the 1970 census 71% of the federal district was black, a dramatic jump. In line with black voters' strong support for the Democrats, the district has sent its three electoral votes to the Democratic candidate in every single presidential election since 1964, including the 1984 landslide re-election of President Reagan, where only the District of Columbia and Minnesota voted for Democratic candidate Walter Mondale. The district's electoral votes have never proven decisive in a presidential elect,ion; the smallest Electoral College majority won by a Democratic pres.ident since the Twenty-third Amendment's ratification was Jimmy Carter's 57 point win in 19.76