President Obama eked out narrow primary victories Tuesday in Arkansas and Kentucky, a sign the president is struggling in Southern states.

The challenger in the Arkansas primary, attorney John Wolfe Jr., took 42 percent of the vote, compared to 58 percent for Obama, with 89 percent of the votes counted.

In Kentucky, 42 percent of registered Democrats voted "uncommitted," compared to 58 percent for the president, according to official results.

Voter turnout was low in both states -- 21 percent in Arkansas and 14 percent in Kentucky -- with both parties essentially having wrapped up their presidential primary season. Arkansas and Kentucky have a wide base of conservative voters, who in 2008 picked GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain over Obama and are expected to vote this year for Mitt Romney.

However, political analysts suggest the numbers Tuesday show voters in general are not satisfied with the president's efforts in his first four years, and that the results suggest he might face a bigger-than-expected challenge in winning such key Southern states as Virginia and North Carolina.

Though the results in either state will not hamper Obama's effort to gain the party's nomination en route to a second term, they are embarrassing for the Democratic Party.  

Two weeks ago, federal inmate Keith Judd earned 41 percent of the vote in West Virginia's Democratic primary.

Wolfe -- a Tennessee attorney who garnered roughly 12 percent of the vote in the Louisiana primary -- has said his goal is to double that number in Arkansas.

Campaign spokeswoman Elizabeth Warren told Fox News the long-shot candidate, who wants to repeal Obama's health care reform law, now plans to run in the Texas primary on Tuesday.