Counties for LaFollette and Goldwater

[Rob]

As if we needed more proof that politics is more about personality than policy... there are actually 26 counties that voted for Robert LaFollette in 1924 and for Barry Goldwater forty years later. Yes, they went from a quasi-pacifist who was endorsed by labor and the Socialist Party, to a militantly anti-government superhawk, and there were lots of people in these areas who lived to see both elections.

Idaho: Canyon, Minidoka, Owyhee
Iowa: Alamakee, Lyon
Minnesota: Carver, Sibley
Nebraska: Arthur, Cuming, Dawes, Gosper, Sioux, Wheeler
North Dakota: Emmons, Grant, Kidder, Logan, McIntosh, Mercer, Sheridan
South Dakota: Hutchinson, McPherson [LaFollette 68%, Goldwater 72%], Turner
Washington: Adams
Wisconsin: Waupaca, Washara

All of these are (or, in some cases, were) agricultural communities; many are heavily German as well, which makes it easier to explain their LaFollette support (he opposed the First World War, the Treaty of Versailles, and Prohibition).

[War on Want]

Lots of these counties have morphed quite a bit and isn't all about personality. In the 1920's Canyon County was significantly more leftist than it was in 1960. Rural counties used to be all about populists/the left but then OMGZ COMMUNISM happened.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Lots of these counties have morphed quite a bit and isn't all about personality. In the 1920's Canyon County was significantly more leftist than it was in 1960. Rural counties used to be all about populists/the left but then OMGZ COMMUNISM happened.

Exactly. Nothing to do with personality.