State that has changed the most politically

[A18]

I've got to go with Vermont. The state that (along with Maine) rejected FDR four times is now socialist.

Maine hasn't changed as much, since it's not socialist, and wasn't quite as fiercly Republican as Vermont was for so many years.

What in the world happened?

[Alcon]

Hippies, I guess? I do not really know. Vermont confuses me, honestly.

West Virginia has changed a lot, too, but only on what they vote for - fundamentally, they're still very much the same.

[Notre Dame rules!]

What happened?


New Yorkers moved to Vermont.  That's what happened.  The cancer spreads.

[TheWildCard]

I'll go with CA. California Went Republican in '52, '56, '60, '68, '72, '76, 80, '84 & '88 and now its a liberal state.

[Rob]

Oregon (at least, Lane County).

[Gabu]

I'm going to have to agree with the Vermont crowd.

[phk]

Vermont.

[Ebowed]

West Virginia has changed a lot, too, but only on what they vote for - fundamentally, they're still very much the same.

I'm not sure I understand.  I'd like to know why West Virginia changed too.  I think it may have something to do with less coal miners being around these days...?

[Alcon]

West Virginia has changed a lot, too, but only on what they vote for - fundamentally, they're still very much the same.

I'm not sure I understand.  I'd like to know why West Virginia changed too.  I think it may have something to do with less coal miners being around these days...?

No, West Virginia still is nearly socialist; it is just now voting heavily on social issues.

[Rob]

Only the core counties of the coal belt in WV still hold out for liberal economics over conservative social issues, and even they are steadily being converted to the GOP.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Only the core counties of the coal belt in WV still hold out for liberal economics over conservative social issues, and even they are steadily being converted to the GOP.

Mingo and Logan counties will never, ever be Republican. Ever.

[Alcon]

Only the core counties of the coal belt in WV still hold out for liberal economics over conservative social issues, and even they are steadily being converted to the GOP.

Mingo and Logan counties will never, ever be Republican. Ever.

Uh, 1972 (57-43) and 1928 (50-50 Republicans) for Mingo and 1928 (53-46) for Logan notwithstanding?

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Uh, 1972 (57-43) and 1928 (50-50 Republicans) for Mingo and 1928 (53-46) for Logan notwithstanding?

I'm only counting New Deal or later, and I'm not counting 1972 because the right-wing media had ruined the McGovern candidacy so badly.

[Alcon]

Uh, 1972 (57-43) and 1928 (50-50 Republicans) for Mingo and 1928 (53-46) for Logan notwithstanding?

I'm only counting New Deal or later, and I'm not counting 1972 because the right-wing media had ruined the McGovern candidacy so badly.

They still voted for him, whether or not you consider it correctly.

[Rob]

I want to change my answer. States like Mississippi and South Carolina have changed much more than Vermont. They've gone from routinely voting in the 90 percent range for Democrats to being solidly Republican.

[Frodo]

any state in the Deep South (including Texas) can certainly qualify. 

[Filuwaúrdjan]

WV's not really changed a great deal... the classic definition of the three most importent issues were Food, Flag and God with Food being by far the most importent. There's also an independent streak... the irony is if Kerry had never campaigned in WV he would almost certainly have done better than he actually did (what really, really hurt him was the mess over pulling out of that church visit)... one bright spot from the Kerry debacle was the fact that he did better with younger voters than state average... first time that's happend for a while.

Generally WV is less Democratic than it was 30 odd years ago due to population loss... but it's not really become more Republican as such... but some of the Metro areas have changed...

Charleston has become more liberal as a rule (despite Bush's narrow win in Kanawha county. Compare this to 1984 (a very similer result to 2004 if you control for population loss) when Reagan won it by a fairly big margin, 1980 when he came extremely close and 1960 when it voted against Kennedy) while Beckley has swung the other way (Raleigh county used to be the key bellwether. No longer: Bush topped 60% there in 2004, it was Manchin's worst county in Southern WV (he still won it o/c) and it was the only county in WV-3 that Rahall lost). The Wheeling-Weirton area hasn't changed a great deal politically, neither has Fairmont/Morgantown/etc.
Huntington has always had a GOP lean (to do with the local tobacco industry) and still does.
Out east, Keyser's been swinging towards the GOP ever since the Staggers family were re-districted out of there hereditary district in '92 (it still has a Democratic state rep though) and the Eastern Panhandle (part of the D.C Metro) remains as Republican as ever.

[2952-0-0]

I want to change my answer. States like Mississippi and South Carolina have changed much more than Vermont. They've gone from routinely voting in the 90 percent range for Democrats to being solidly Republican.

It's really because the two parties switched ideologies.

[opebo]

I want to change my answer. States like Mississippi and South Carolina have changed much more than Vermont. They've gone from routinely voting in the 90 percent range for Democrats to being solidly Republican.

It's really because the two parties switched ideologies.

Correct - back when only whites could vote, they voted in as racist a fashion as possible.  Now they do the same thing, but they're represented by the neo-Republicans.   True, blacks can now vote, which no doubt infuriates Southern Whites.  However, since blacks are outnumbered by whites so it makes no difference.  Winning on the racist vote 60/40 is just as good as winning 90/10.

I'd say Vermont has change the most, but California is a close runner up and matters a lot more.  Thank you California!

[Gustaf]

What about New Hampshire though? It has changed very quickly, giving Bush I about 60% in 1988 to voting for Clinton in 1992 and now being more Democratic than the average. Vermont's change is somewhat slower. Both Vermont and California, btw, were Dem-leaning in the 80s, it's just that the Republican landslides in those years obscure that fact.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Vermont has seen less incomers than New Hamphire. The New Yorkers takeover is a myth.

[Storebought]

The most remarkable thing about modern elections is the loss of large swing states: CA, as mentioned, used to be a fairly solid GOP swing state. It's not anymore b/c of the change in southern CA:

Through the 60s and 70s, the city known as Los Angeles was the home of casual wear, backyard above-ground pools, barbecue grills, strip malls, tacky billboards, odd cults. People voted Democrat, but they didn't really believe it and voted GOP whenever a good SoCal candidate came along.

Now, the city we call L.A. is the home of tweaked-out male prostitutes on Hollywood Blvd; 40000 sq ft mansions hidden miles away from the street behind gates and shrubbery; poodle boutiques; and, above all, shantytowns called 'barrios' inhabited by illegal immigrants who refuse to speak a word of English, even when they already know the language. For the inhabitants of L.A., the Democratic Party is the religion.

NY, for its part, used to a fairly Democrat swing state. But, unlike CA, the change wasn't in the voting patterns of the major city (NYC has always been hugely Democrat), but everywhere else. When the GOP vote margins started to slip below 60% in L.I. in the late 1980s, and upstate continued its depopulation, NY's days as a swing state were over. I guess IL is the same way, replacing "upstate" with "Downstate" and "L.I" with "Chicagoland."

PA from 1932 onward has been a persistently Democrat state. Bush gave it his college try in 2004, but he came up short, as most Republicans have.  And Vorlon has already gave his thorough analysis on why MI will not vote GOP again (population decline, a stagnant industrial-age economic base, newfound cultural liberalism of the Detroit suburbs).

I don't include TX in this list b/c TX, and most other Southern states, have the possibility of voting for a Zell Miller type Democratic candidate in the future. Even in 1988, H W Bush only won 55% of the TX vote, and lost a huge number of counties to Dukakis--of all people--in East TX.

[Alcon]

Storebought, I'm not exactly a fan of Los Angeles, but don't you think you are stereotyping a *wee* bit?

[Storebought]

Storebought, I'm not exactly a fan of Los Angeles, but don't you think you are stereotyping a *wee* bit?

Not really, no more than someone like Jay Leno would. I'm just trying to paint a picture of the nature of the change.

In fact, I like old Los Angeles (not L.A.), including the odd cults.

[Alcon]

Storebought, I'm not exactly a fan of Los Angeles, but don't you think you are stereotyping a *wee* bit?

Not really, no more than someone like Jay Leno would. I'm just trying to paint a picture of the nature of the change.

In fact, I like old Los Angeles (not L.A.), including the odd cults.

I meant more the new L.A. I'm not sure how big of a voting block male prostitutes consist of. ;)