Why were college towns so Republican before the 70's?

[Oldiesfreak1854]

Cheshire County, New Hampshire, is also a good example of this.

[All Along The Watchtower]

You mean back when Americans of all ages voted along class lines (somewhat) and working class people couldn't attend universities unless they'd had a military career before?

Of course, there were plenty of elite Democrats back then ("before the 70s" is an awfully long time), and there have always been certain working-class areas that voted heavily Republican (some since the Civil War era)....

[minionofmidas]

You mean back when Americans of all ages voted along class lines (somewhat) and working class people couldn't attend universities unless they'd had a military career before?

Of course, there were plenty of elite Democrats back then ("before the 70s" is an awfully long time), and there have always been certain working-class areas that voted heavily Republican (some since the Civil War era)....

Yes, hence "somewhat". It was far more the case than now... and it's not dead even today.

[All Along The Watchtower]

You mean back when Americans of all ages voted along class lines (somewhat) and working class people couldn't attend universities unless they'd had a military career before?

Of course, there were plenty of elite Democrats back then ("before the 70s" is an awfully long time), and there have always been certain working-class areas that voted heavily Republican (some since the Civil War era)....

Yes, hence "somewhat". It was far more the case than now... and it's not dead even today.

Ah, true. It's interesting to look at the changing nature of the type of work done by the American working class. Back in the New Deal/WWII era, there were a lot more manual laborers ("blue-collar" workers), and they exerted a major political force in the form of unions, which became one of the main components of the Democratic Party. Also, a lot more of the manual blue-collar workers back then were white....not so much anymore, for a number of reasons..

Nowadays, the percentage of manual laborers has shrunk, but what's shrunk even more is the percentage (and perhaps in raw numbers, too) of white manual laborers, relative to the population. A lot more working-class whites do "service" or  even "white-collar" work of some kind nowadays (in addition to retirees and unemployed).

The deindustrialization of much of America, in no small part due to neoliberalism as well as  broader technological changes, has, in my view, been a cause of the shift in American politics to the right as much as it has been an effect of it. When you have a much smaller number of unionized workers, a more heterogeneous class structure (with a few winners and many more "losers"), and  the white-collar professional/management/business sector becoming even more powerful than it already was-it makes sense that the political system and process would become more reactionary (And that's not even getting into the race factor, which has always been central to America's class system...)

[soniquemd21921]

You mean back when Americans of all ages voted along class lines (somewhat) and working class people couldn't attend universities unless they'd had a military career before?

Of course, there were plenty of elite Democrats back then ("before the 70s" is an awfully long time), and there have always been certain working-class areas that voted heavily Republican (some since the Civil War era)....

What are some working-class areas that were Republican in the 30's-40's era?

[Smash255]

You mean back when Americans of all ages voted along class lines (somewhat) and working class people couldn't attend universities unless they'd had a military career before?

Of course, there were plenty of elite Democrats back then ("before the 70s" is an awfully long time), and there have always been certain working-class areas that voted heavily Republican (some since the Civil War era)....

What are some working-class areas that were Republican in the 30's-40's era?

Eastern Tennessee.

[soniquemd21921]

Or Tompkins, New York (home of Ithaca/Cornell). It used to be just as Republican as the counties it surrounded, now it sticks out like a sore thumb.

[soniquemd21921]

A tale of two college towns and two counties:

Amherst, MA:
1936 - 66% Landon
1948 - 69% Dewey
1960 - 60% Nixon
1972 - 67% McGovern
1984 - 74% Mondale
2004 - 85% Kerry

Hanover, NH:
1936 - 58% Landon
1948 - 75% Dewey
1960 - 62% Nixon
1972 - 57% McGovern
1984 - 54% Mondale
2004 - 76% Kerry

Tompkins County, NY (Ithaca):
1936 - 64% Landon
1948 - 68% Dewey
1960 - 66% Nixon
1972 - 59% Nixon
1984 - 51% Mondale
2004 - 64% Kerry

Washtenaw County, MI (Ann Arbor):
1936 - 51% Landon
1948 - 64% Dewey
1960 - 61% Nixon
1972 - 52% McGovern
1984 - 51% Nixon
2004 - 64% Kerry

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

A tale of two college towns and two counties:

Amherst, MA:
1936 - 66% Landon
1948 - 69% Dewey
1960 - 60% Nixon
1972 - 67% McGovern
1984 - 74% Mondale
2004 - 85% Kerry

Hanover, NH:
1936 - 58% Landon
1948 - 75% Dewey
1960 - 62% Nixon
1972 - 57% McGovern
1984 - 54% Mondale
2004 - 76% Kerry

Tompkins County, NY (Ithaca):
1936 - 64% Landon
1948 - 68% Dewey
1960 - 66% Nixon
1972 - 59% Nixon
1984 - 51% Mondale
2004 - 64% Kerry

Washtenaw County, MI (Ann Arbor):
1936 - 51% Landon
1948 - 64% Dewey
1960 - 61% Nixon
1972 - 52% McGovern
1984 - 51% Nixon
2004 - 64% Kerry

FTs

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

You mean back when Americans of all ages voted along class lines (somewhat) and working class people couldn't attend universities unless they'd had a military career before?

Of course, there were plenty of elite Democrats back then ("before the 70s" is an awfully long time), and there have always been certain working-class areas that voted heavily Republican (some since the Civil War era)....

What are some working-class areas that were Republican in the 30's-40's era?

Eastern Tennessee.

Eastern TN, South Central KY (and East KY before the New Deal), certain rural parts of the Midwest (usually on a north south divide as well with the rural areas in the more Southern parts being Democratic and the northern parts more Republican), NY, PA, and New England. A lot of that has to do with settlement patterns, legacy voting dating back to the pre-Civil War and cultural inclincations.

[soniquemd21921]

There were also some manufacturing towns in New England that remained Republican during the New Deal and some time after; Orange, Massachusetts was 68% Republican in 1936 despite being a factory town. My guess is that this town was predominantly of Yankee ancestry and had little-to-no union activity. It's also one of the last remaining towns in northwest Massachusetts where GOP candidates still do well (Bush got 47% here in 2004 and I bet Scott Brown did even better in 2010).

[Sol]

You mean back when Americans of all ages voted along class lines (somewhat) and working class people couldn't attend universities unless they'd had a military career before?

Of course, there were plenty of elite Democrats back then ("before the 70s" is an awfully long time), and there have always been certain working-class areas that voted heavily Republican (some since the Civil War era)....

What are some working-class areas that were Republican in the 30's-40's era?

Some textile based areas in Western NC.

[HoosierPoliticalJunkie]

You mean back when Americans of all ages voted along class lines (somewhat) and working class people couldn't attend universities unless they'd had a military career before?

Of course, there were plenty of elite Democrats back then ("before the 70s" is an awfully long time), and there have always been certain working-class areas that voted heavily Republican (some since the Civil War era)....

What are some working-class areas that were Republican in the 30's-40's era?

Some textile based areas in Western NC.

Also:
SW/South-Central Missouri(this area went solidly Landon in '36)
NE Kansas
Upstate NY, Northern PA, Vermont, NH, Maine, E. Massachusetts
A large chunk of rural Michigan, especially on the West End and the "thumb" (or maybe it's called the finger
DRIFTLESS AREA, particularly the section in Illinois, which is one of the few rural areas Dems do well in now.

[King of Kensington]

A tale of two college towns and two counties:

Amherst, MA:
1936 - 66% Landon
1948 - 69% Dewey
1960 - 60% Nixon
1972 - 67% McGovern
1984 - 74% Mondale
2004 - 85% Kerry

Hanover, NH:
1936 - 58% Landon
1948 - 75% Dewey
1960 - 62% Nixon
1972 - 57% McGovern
1984 - 54% Mondale
2004 - 76% Kerry

Tompkins County, NY (Ithaca):
1936 - 64% Landon
1948 - 68% Dewey
1960 - 66% Nixon
1972 - 59% Nixon
1984 - 51% Mondale
2004 - 64% Kerry

Washtenaw County, MI (Ann Arbor):
1936 - 51% Landon
1948 - 64% Dewey
1960 - 61% Nixon
1972 - 52% McGovern
1984 - 51% Nixon
2004 - 64% Kerry

Fascinating.  My guess is a mix of the following:

1.) Professors were always a Democratic group overall, but it was more mixed.  Moderate Republicans were a significant force and the GOP was less openly anti-intellectual and explicitly Christian then.  Humanities and social science professors always leaned Democrat, as did natural scientists but there was a stronger Republican minority in the past.  Even engineering and business professors probably vote Democrat now but they were Republican in the 1960s.

2.) Students have moved to the left since the 1960s.  Before then students were often disproportionately Republican and were a more elite group.

3.) The electorate was less dominated by professors and students, and with these towns being fairly prosperous, the non-academic residents were more Republican-leaning.  Since the 1960s the number of students and professors have grown immensely, and many more students could vote after 1972, etc.  

[soniquemd21921]

Cambridge was heavily Democratic in that era too, but from what I gather that was due to the fact that outside of Harvard the city was a blue-collar, mostly Catholic city (much like neigboring Somerville and Everett).

[King of Kensington]

Amherst only had a population of 6,000 in 1940 (compared to 37,000 today) and U Mass didn't become a full-fledged university until 1947.   It would also be interesting to look at neighboring Northampton.  

[soniquemd21921]

Northampton voted for Al Smith, FDR and Truman - but not by wide margins.

[pbrower2a]

Were they really?

... or they were college towns around some religious-based school.

The Republicans, in their overt and demagogic anti-intellectualism give a back-handed slap to anyone who expects to rely upon a honed mind to make a good living. 

[Benj]

A tale of two college towns and two counties:

Amherst, MA:
1936 - 66% Landon
1948 - 69% Dewey
1960 - 60% Nixon
1972 - 67% McGovern
1984 - 74% Mondale
2004 - 85% Kerry

Hanover, NH:
1936 - 58% Landon
1948 - 75% Dewey
1960 - 62% Nixon
1972 - 57% McGovern
1984 - 54% Mondale
2004 - 76% Kerry

Tompkins County, NY (Ithaca):
1936 - 64% Landon
1948 - 68% Dewey
1960 - 66% Nixon
1972 - 59% Nixon
1984 - 51% Mondale
2004 - 64% Kerry

Washtenaw County, MI (Ann Arbor):
1936 - 51% Landon
1948 - 64% Dewey
1960 - 61% Nixon
1972 - 52% McGovern
1984 - 51% Nixon
2004 - 64% Kerry

Fascinating.  My guess is a mix of the following:

1.) Professors were always a Democratic group overall, but it was more mixed.  Moderate Republicans were a significant force and the GOP was less openly anti-intellectual and explicitly Christian then.  Humanities and social science professors always leaned Democrat, as did natural scientists but there was a stronger Republican minority in the past.  Even engineering and business professors probably vote Democrat now but they were Republican in the 1960s.

If we're talking pre-1960s (for many of those results), professors would have been overwhelmingly Republican, as any demographic consisting exclusively of people who graduated from college was.

[King of Kensington]

That's not true - professors and intellectuals were pretty much the only group that didn't vote along class lines between the 1930s and 1960s.   They were Democratic even then. 

[SingingAnalyst]

Probably because most were located in rural, Protestant, northern areas. Perhaps, and this may be a stretch, because some colleges (Princeton for example) were founded as centers of religious instruction or at least as an alternative to "liberal" universities (Harvard). Today the largest Republican university county I know of is Greenville Co, SC, home of Bob Jones University. As BJU slowly joins the mainstream (they dropped their rule against interracial dating in 2000) will the county become more like the country or at least more like SC?

1952: Stevenson 47% Eisenhower 53%
1956: Stevenson 43.5% Eisenhower 39.5%
1960: Kennedy 38% Nixon 62% (Kennedy tanked for obvious reasons)
1964: Johnson 37% Goldwater 63%
1968: Humphrey 21.6% Nixon 52.9% Wallace 25.5%
1972: McGovern 17.4% Nixon 79.6% (in a university town!)
1976: Carter 47.3% Ford 51.5% (Chancellor Bob Jones was sharply critical of Betty Ford, but supported Ford over Carter)
1980: Carter 40% Reagan 57.4%
1984: Mondale 26.4% Reagan 73.1%
1988: Dukakis 28.6% Bush 70.8%
1992: Clinton 30.4% Bush 57% Perot 12.1% ("to vote for Clinton is to sin against G-d")
1996: Clinton 34% Dole 60% Perot 6%
2000: Gore 32% Bush 66%
2004: Kerry 33% Bush 66%
2008: Obama 37% McCain 61%
2012: Obama 35% Romney 63% (clearly these fundamentalist Christians had no difficulty voting for a Mormon)

[jimrtex]

I doubt the students who were 21 or older were voting in their college town anyway. Consider how much more tedious it was to register to vote and change addresses in the era before the Internet and computers. They probably just voted where their parents lived.

Generally, only seniors would be 21 before November, and this would only occur in half the years, so it was not a particularly large population to target.  There were often laws that prevented students from registering where they were students.  Residence is established  by a combination of physical presence and intent.  The cases overturning these laws were based on the State not being able to presume intent based on activity.

e.g. An 18 YO freshman might be just as likely to be in the same county two years hence, as a roughneck in North Dakota.

[Mr. Smith]

I will note that Alameda County has THE college town in it (Berkeley), and the last Republican vote was 1956, and the last time before Ike was Hoover.

Talk all you want about 41% in 1962, they still voted for JFK.

Truman was by a very razor-thin margin though, that's true

[jimrtex]

I will note that Alameda County has THE college town in it (Berkeley), and the last Republican vote was 1956, and the last time before Ike was Hoover.

Oakland has 4 time the population of Berkeley, and in 1960 had 40% of the county population.

[SingingAnalyst]

Wealth and liberalism, before the parties were so unified ideologically. In 1978, admittedly a long time ago, MA and MI had liberal Republican vs conserative Democrat gubernatorial elections.

MA: King (D) 52.3% Hatch (R) 47.4%
Cambridge: King (D) 40.6% Hatch (R) 59.4%
Amherst:  King (D) 15.0% Hatch (R) 84.8%

MI: Fitzgerald (D) 43.2% Milliken 56.7%
Ann Arbor: Fitzgerald (D) 24% Milliken 75%
East Lansing: Fitzgerald (D) 13% Milliken (R) 86%

In both states, the Dem did relatively well in poor, white, working class areas, and the Republican won a larger than usual share of the Black vote.