Why is the Mountain West so socially liberal?

[vanguard96]

http://religionnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/PRRI-AVA-same-sex-marriage-1-RNS2-copy.jpg. http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012-label-fig3.jpg On social issues, the Mountain West is not that conservative.

Yeah, I'm not sure what these maps are supposed to tell us. Generally, same-sex marriage, marijuana legalization and aid in dying aren't really THAT controversial issues in the Mountain States (again, that doesn't mean that people don't hold different views or aren't divided over these issues, but not many people really care about them), or at least not as much as in other parts of the country. While Montana is definitely majority pro-choice (then again, so is Wyoming, I believe), there is still a significant percentage of the population that is pretty pro-life, though you won't find as many single issue "pro-life" voters in MT as in... say... AL, obviously. It's probably fair to say that most Republican voters value a hands-off approach of the government more than anything else. But it's definitely not true that the state is as socially liberal as VA, especially when it comes to issues like abortion and gun rights.

Just compare these results...

https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?fips=30&year=2004&f=0&off=60&elect=0
http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollReport.aspx?g=eade5505-b9a5-4604-aa7c-e8b578bfddf1

with these ones:

https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?fips=51&year=2006&f=0&off=50&elect=0
http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollReport.aspx?g=09dfde52-e7c5-4c31-8ab1-126384d162b6

(Sorry, I wasn't able to find more data. Note that the SurveyUSA results are from 2005, and even back then VA was more liberal than MT. Now, the gap is much wider, I would assume. If I had to guess, I'd say MT is something like 54/46 pro-choice and VA 62/38, but I could be wrong.)

Also, TDAS is absolutely right that most people in the West live in urban areas, and those are generally much more liberal than the rural ones. This is a very important point that people often seem to forget, but it's not that complicated.

Here's what I figured out using someone's map in December on abortion (since nationwide pro-life/pro-choice polling is all over the place, I used the baseline of a 50-50 nation):

It depends upon one defines a social conservative, since like any other catchall phrase looses a lot of detail if it is bandied around without context.

If we look at a few keys subjects commonly considered part of the "social conservative" movement like Abortion Rights, Gay Marriage, and Gun restrictions we see a considerable amount of variation within the six states of New England....

From most socially conservative to less socially conservative:

1.) Abortion Rights
      A.) Rhode Island--- 63% PRO
      B.) Maine----          64% PRO
      C.) New Hampshire 66% PRO
      D.) Connetticutt     67% PRO
      E.) Vermont           70% PRO
      F.) Massachusetts   74% PRO

2.) Gay Marriage
     A.) Maine---   63% PRO
     B/C VT/CT---  67 % PRO
     D.) RI---        70% PRO
     E.) MA---       73% PRO
     F.)  NH----      75% PRO

3.) Support for greater gun restrictions....
     A.) NH--- 54%
     B.) ME--  55 % (Wide gap between ME-01 and ME-02 here)
     C.) VT---  59%
     D.) RI/MA/CT roughly between 62-67% depending upon CD

So if we look at abortion, gay marriage, and guns as the core parts of social conservatism, it appears that Maine places towards the top of all three categories....

The water is much muddier as for the 2nd / 3rd string contenders...

It definitely looks like Mass. is the least socially conservative state in New England on these issues, and if it wasn't for CT's relatively lackluster support for Gay Marriage, I would probably put at as the second most socially liberal state in New England....

Anyone want to chime in with some other metrics and themes of social conservatism that I didn't reference above based on public polling numbers by state?

Did you just make thise numbers up?

No... numbers regarding Abortion are from a Pew poll from 2014...

http://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/compare/views-about-abortion/by/state/

Numbers regarding Gay Marriage is from a Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) national survey from 2015.

http://www.prri.org/spotlight/map-every-states-opinion-on-same-sex-marriage/

You could look at the Williams Institute (UCLA ) survey by state from 2012 which shows a slightly different pattern, but one would surmise that on this issue as public attitudes have shifted dramatically in just the past few years, the most recent data would be more representative.

http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/research/marriage-and-couples-rights/public-support-for-marriage-for-same-sex-couples-by-state/

The data on support/opposition for great gun restrictions is from July 2016, and is actually broken down by CD.

https://www.isidewith.com/map/2Y5/support-for-gun-control#z5

The abortion numbers are interesting, but they look a little too favorable to "legal" overall, when compared to Gallup's most of the time equivalent question.  Plus, there are a couple that look wrong at first glance, like Oklahoma and Nebraska being underwater.

These numbers come out to always/mostly legal +14, while others, such as CNN have it always/mostly illegal +18.  It really depends on the exact wording of the question.  Gallup has pro-life/pro-choice tied over the last couple years, so here is a map with these state numbers indexed to a tied nation:

Generally gun restriction is more of an authoritarian measure - definitely NOT socially liberal in the sense of marijuana legalization or gay marriage.