Blue states benefit most from 'Clunkers' program

WASHINGTON -- The Democrat-driven Cash for Clunkers program appears to have been a bigger boon for blue states than red.

Eight of the top 10 states taking advantage of the rebate program voted for Barack Obama in 2008 (blue states), while seven of the bottom 10 backed Republican John McCain (red states), according to a Gannett state-by-state analysis of rebates per licensed driver.

Minnesota, where car dealers have requested nearly $73.2 million in rebates, led the way in Clunker participation with a per-driver request of $23.70.

Wyoming, where a little more than $2.5 million in rebates has been requested, participated least — $6.43 per licensed driver.

The finding was puzzling for political analysts and car dealers contacted for this article, who suggest that interest in the program varied for a lot of reasons.

"It's an interesting phenomenon," said Celinda Lake, a Democratic pollster.

Lake suggested that an interest in the environment could have been a motivating factor. Or it may simply have been a case of auto dealers being hungrier for sales in some states than in others.

"I know in Tennessee, dealers were pulling back, whereas in Illinois, the dealers were all gung-ho," she said.

Cash for Clunkers offered rebates of either $3,500 or $4,500 to those who traded in gas-guzzling "clunkers" and bought fuel-efficient new cars. The incentive ended Aug. 24 with dealers requesting nearly $2.9 billion in rebates on sales of 690,114 new cars. The Transportation Department hopes to complete processing the applications by the end of the month.

The 28 states Obama won in 2008 have requested nearly $2.13 billion in rebates, or $15.12 per licensed driver.

The 22 states that voted for McCain have requested $757 million, or $12.17 per driver.

Support for the Cash for Clunkers program broke largely along partisan lines in Congress.

In June, the Senate narrowly overcame a procedural hurdle to fund the program. Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson was the only Democrat to oppose it. Only four Republicans favored it: Kit Bond of Missouri, George Voinovich of Ohio, Thad Cochran of Mississippi, and Susan Collins of Maine.