Why is the West Coast so left wing?

[Mechaman]

Because in 1988 Bush Sr. took the votes of the West Coast for granted (as did arguably every GOP candidate after him), assuming that they would automatically vote GOP. If the GOP had put just a little bit of attention to the West Coast in every election since 1988 I bet they would be singing a different tune.

Bush did not take the west coast for granted. He campaigned for himself and also for senate candidates (Pete Wilson in California) in 1988. Both he and Ronald Reagan appeared on the west coast campaigning for the Bush/Quayle ticket. What specific source source do you have that says that Bush took the west for granted in 1988?

Also, the republicans have put attention to the west coast. Dole campaigned hard in California in 1996. And Bush made stops on the west coast in both 2000 and 2004. I think that if it had been Clinton vs McCain in 2008, then McCain would have worked more on the west coast because he would have had a better chance there against Clinton.

But, it is just not true to say that the republicans did not campaign on the west coast since 1988.

Where the hell did I say they did not campaign on the west coast? I simply said they didn't pay enough attention to it, that they decided to focus more on the South and Midwest.
Lack of communication fail

You said every Republican took the West Coast for granted since 1988.

There is a difference between "taking it for granted" and not campaigning at all. Making a few token stops to give the appearance they're trying isn't the same as actively campaigning there. In 1988, HW Bush took it for granted that the West Coast was Republican, 1992 onwards the Republicans started giving up on California and Washington (Oregon is debatable).

[Bo]

I think that the main reasons are that as many conservatives left, many minorities moved into the West Coast, a trend which begun in the 1980s. Also, I think that as the GOP began to place focus on issues such as abortion, gay marriage, and illegal immigration, many previously Republican voters became alienated by the GOP and began to vote for the Democrats more often.

[phk]

Immigrants, who vote D, increased their share of the pop.
Traditional conservatives who voted R, left.

[Scam of God]

From the eyes of this midwestern-bred, california-dwelling boy, the west coast is a very individualistic and culturally disintegrated place.  It isn't so much "left wing" as it is "do your own thing!"  It's a very different atmosphere from the midwest or even the east, where family lineage and provincialism runs deep and thus, midwesterners, southerners and east coasters are more prone to want to preserve their tradition and status quo.  Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and Portland have a very creative/alternative/academic feel to them; which is sort of the anti-thesis to the extreme populist, anti-art and anti-intellectual vibe of the "foxnews conservatives".  Tolerance for different people/cultures is high on our list of values.  The anti-war/peace sentiment is also much stronger out here than the rest of the country.  As individualistic of a place as it is, many west coasters are naturally fiscally conservative, but they still see the Democratic Party as the better choice for protecting their cultural values.  Of course, many of these people are naive hipsters who are simply misunderstanding the concept of freedom; that left-wing economics are inherently authoritarian; but that's not what's been grabbing the headlines in recent years.  The Iraq War, the Patriot Act and Sarah Palin have not helped Republicans out here.  If the Republican Party was less like Mike Huckabee and more like Ron Paul, they would be more popular out here. 

This so hard.

[DS0816]

Why is the West Coast … Democratic in presidential elections?


The Republican Party fell out of touch with this area of the country. The party got too right-wing, disconnected, and it not only lost them Oregon and Washington (in 1988) but California (in which 1988 Bush underperfomed his national average by, roughly, 50 percent) flipped in 1992 along with a stream of populous states outside this area that haven't carried for a GOP presidential candidate since.

Some folks, though, have no problem with the fact that George W. Bush is the only two-term Republican president never to have carried Calif., Ore., Wash., New York (despite 9/11), Maine, Vermont (GOP from the party's election, in 1856, to 1988 - except for LBJ in 1964!), Connecticut, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin. (Not certain if I'm missing any more.)

There was a thread created about Democrats not being able to afford losing Dixie … but the GOP has lost the northeast, the upper midwest, and the pacific rim. Bush barely won his two elections (his combined electoral vote in 2000 and 2004 was less than his father's winning election, in 1988, and his losing one, in 1992). Not very good. And it's hilarious the Republican Party fails to see this as a problem for them.

[Obnoxiously Slutty Girly Girl]

Why is the West Coast … Democratic in presidential elections?


The Republican Party fell out of touch with this area of the country. The party got too right-wing, disconnected, and it not only lost them Oregon and Washington (in 1988) but California (in which 1988 Bush underperfomed his national average by, roughly, 50 percent) flipped in 1992 along with a stream of populous states outside this area that haven't carried for a GOP presidential candidate since.

Some folks, though, have no problem with the fact that George W. Bush is the only two-term Republican president never to have carried Calif., Ore., Wash., New York (despite 9/11), Maine, Vermont (GOP from the party's election, in 1856, to 1988 - except for LBJ in 1964!), Connecticut, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin. (Not certain if I'm missing any more.)

There was a thread created about Democrats not being able to afford losing Dixie … but the GOP has lost the northeast, the upper midwest, and the pacific rim. Bush barely won his two elections (his combined electoral vote in 2000 and 2004 was less than his father's winning election, in 1988, and his losing one, in 1992). Not very good. And it's hilarious the Republican Party fails to see this as a problem for them.

Who says that it isn't a problem for them?

[Mechaman]

Why is the West Coast … Democratic in presidential elections?


The Republican Party fell out of touch with this area of the country. The party got too right-wing, disconnected, and it not only lost them Oregon and Washington (in 1988) but California (in which 1988 Bush underperfomed his national average by, roughly, 50 percent) flipped in 1992 along with a stream of populous states outside this area that haven't carried for a GOP presidential candidate since.

Some folks, though, have no problem with the fact that George W. Bush is the only two-term Republican president never to have carried Calif., Ore., Wash., New York (despite 9/11), Maine, Vermont (GOP from the party's election, in 1856, to 1988 - except for LBJ in 1964!), Connecticut, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin. (Not certain if I'm missing any more.)

There was a thread created about Democrats not being able to afford losing Dixie … but the GOP has lost the northeast, the upper midwest, and the pacific rim. Bush barely won his two elections (his combined electoral vote in 2000 and 2004 was less than his father's winning election, in 1988, and his losing one, in 1992). Not very good. And it's hilarious the Republican Party fails to see this as a problem for them.

^^^^^^
This is what I was saying, just worded it wrongly.

[phk]

Liberals moved there in the 1960s, 1970s. Minorities moved in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s. Asians trended Democratic in the 1990s. Conservatives left in the late 1980s to the 1990s.

Perfect storm to turn far left.

[DS0816]

Liberals moved there in the 1960s, 1970s. Minorities moved in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s. Asians trended Democratic in the 1990s. Conservatives left in the late 1980s to the 1990s.

Perfect storm to turn far left.

What's funny is this assertion, a belief, that the Republican Party is conservative — and the Democratic Party is, as some may put it, beholden to the left.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Why is the West Coast … Democratic in presidential elections?


The Republican Party fell out of touch with this area of the country. The party got too right-wing, disconnected, and it not only lost them Oregon and Washington (in 1988) but California (in which 1988 Bush underperfomed his national average by, roughly, 50 percent) flipped in 1992 along with a stream of populous states outside this area that haven't carried for a GOP presidential candidate since.

Some folks, though, have no problem with the fact that George W. Bush is the only two-term Republican president never to have carried Calif., Ore., Wash., New York (despite 9/11), Maine, Vermont (GOP from the party's election, in 1856, to 1988 - except for LBJ in 1964!), Connecticut, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin. (Not certain if I'm missing any more.)

There was a thread created about Democrats not being able to afford losing Dixie … but the GOP has lost the northeast, the upper midwest, and the pacific rim. Bush barely won his two elections (his combined electoral vote in 2000 and 2004 was less than his father's winning election, in 1988, and his losing one, in 1992). Not very good. And it's hilarious the Republican Party fails to see this as a problem for them.

^^^^^^

^^^^^^

[Stranger in a strange land]

Lots of minorities, high levels of education, immigration, and a strong environmental movement among other things, turned the West Coast into the Left Coast far more than conservatives leaving. Though there has been some conservative flight from SoCal, the conservatives are still there, they're just increasingly outnumbered and moving farther and farther out into Exurbia.