One has to remember that Vermont has been demographically transformed by urban migrants from New York and elsewhere, of whom the most famous example is Senator Bernie Sanders himself:
http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/01/new-vermont-is-liberal-but-old-vermont-is-still-there/In terms of anecdotal evidence, I came across a humourous book about Vermont once at the library used book store and it definitely had a conservative stance, making fun of the new migrants and contrasting them with the "real Vermonters". It also expressed the hope that than Mayor Bernie Sanders would not seek any sort of higher office.
