President Barack Obama was the only choice on the ballot for the 85,000 Sacramento County Democrats and 5,000 decline-to-state voters who took Democratic ballots during last Tuesday's primary. But about 8,000 of those voters left their presidential ballots blank, and another 5,300 scribbled in a write-in candidate.
The Democrats who shunned Obama were largely concentrated in conservative parts of the county, particularly Orangevale, Citrus Heights and the rural outskirts.
Democrats were about three times more likely to not pick a candidate or write someone in than Republicans in Tuesday's election, though the Republican ballot featured several alternatives to Mitt Romney.
Democrats were also more likely to not choose a candidate or write someone in during this primary than during the hotly-contested 2008 Democratic primary.
If there's one bright spot for Obama, it's that more Sacramento County Republican voters picked no one or wrote in a candidate during the 2004 Republican primary when George W. Bush was the only candidate on the ballot.
Obama is heavily favored to win Sacramento County and the rest of California in November.
This map shows the proportion of Democratic primary ballots where voters picked no one or wrote in a choice for president.
Source: Sacramento County Voter Registration and Elections
• Read more articles by Phillip Reese
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