Why did Bill Clinton do so well (compared to Obama) in Wyoming?

[TDAS04]

Since the 1990s, Wyoming has has trended sharply Republican.  Here are the Republican margins of victory going to to 1992:

1992:  6%
1996:  13%
2000:  40%
2004:  40%
2008:  32%
2012:  41%

Not that Clinton actually came came close to winning, and Perot was a major factor particularly in 1992.  However, Wyoming was a notably better state for Clinton both times than Utah, Idaho, or even Alaska or Nebraska.

Cheney's presence on the GOP ticket should explain the sharp swing for Bush, but in 2008, I was surprised that Wyoming was one of the few western states to trend Republican, and that it was Obama's worst state.  In 2012, Obama actually underperformed Kerry.

Both Clinton and Obama are obviously too liberal for the state, and it probably wouldn't vote for any Democratic presidential candidate, but I don't see why Clinton would be that much of a better fit for the state than Obama.

For Wyoming, why did Clinton do so (relatively) well, and Obama so poorly?

[ElectionsGuy]

Few reasons. I think Bill Clinton was much more conservative than Obama. To the western culture there, I don't think Obama appealed very well at all to the kind of conservatism that exists there. Wyoming has got to be one of the most libertarian states out there, along with Alaska and a few other mountain states. And Obama probably does not appeal well to many libertarian leaning folks. On top of that, there's the energy sector, where Obama blew his chances of anybody moderate voting for him there. I can't seem to explain much more, but Wyoming I think has become more and more a "get the government off my back and let me live my life" type state. And I don't think the "fundamentally transform America" comment went very well for those voters. (Oh yes, and forgot about Mormons which are about 9-10% of population, went 4-1 for Romney.)

If something I said above was incorrect or you can add something, let me know because I'm not really going off facts and statistics here, just politics and candidates personalities.

[RedSLC]

I can think of two reasons:

1. Wyoming's Mormon population has grown significantly since Clinton's time. They would go heavily for McCain and especially Romney, for obvious reasons. A smaller Mormon population than either Utah or Idaho would allow Clinton to do better there.

2. Wyoming also had a fairly large contingent of miners at the time, particularly in Sweetwater County. This is one demographic that would have supported Clinton but not Obama.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Few reasons. I think Bill Clinton was much more conservative than Obama. To the western culture there, I don't think Obama appealed very well at all to the kind of conservatism that exists there. Wyoming has got to be one of the most libertarian states out there, along with Alaska and a few other mountain states. And Obama probably does not appeal well to many libertarian leaning folks. On top of that, there's the energy sector, where Obama blew his chances of anybody moderate voting for him there. I can't seem to explain much more, but Wyoming I think has become more and more a "get the government off my back and let me live my life" type state. And I don't think the "fundamentally transform America" comment went very well for those voters. (Oh yes, and forgot about Mormons which are about 9-10% of population, went 4-1 for Romney.)

If something I said above was incorrect or you can add something, let me know because I'm not really going off facts and statistics here, just politics and candidates personalities.

I disagree with the notion that Wyoming is a libertarian state.  Yes, it's very fiscally conservative and very pro-gun, but I don't think that's enough for it to qualify as libertarian.  If anything, I'd say Colorado (which Clinton carried in '92) is more libertarian for the way it votes on referendums, but Wyoming is just a standard GOP state with large pockets of Mormons.

[IceSpear]

The problem is you're looking at the margin. Clinton got 34% in 1992 and 37% in 1996. Obama got 33% there in 2008. Not that much of a difference. In Wyoming, almost all of Perot's votes were from people who would've had GHWB/Dole as a second choice, making a deceptively "close" (by Wyoming standards) margin.

[ElectionsGuy]

Few reasons. I think Bill Clinton was much more conservative than Obama. To the western culture there, I don't think Obama appealed very well at all to the kind of conservatism that exists there. Wyoming has got to be one of the most libertarian states out there, along with Alaska and a few other mountain states. And Obama probably does not appeal well to many libertarian leaning folks. On top of that, there's the energy sector, where Obama blew his chances of anybody moderate voting for him there. I can't seem to explain much more, but Wyoming I think has become more and more a "get the government off my back and let me live my life" type state. And I don't think the "fundamentally transform America" comment went very well for those voters. (Oh yes, and forgot about Mormons which are about 9-10% of population, went 4-1 for Romney.)

If something I said above was incorrect or you can add something, let me know because I'm not really going off facts and statistics here, just politics and candidates personalities.

I disagree with the notion that Wyoming is a libertarian state.  Yes, it's very fiscally conservative and very pro-gun, but I don't think that's enough for it to qualify as libertarian.  If anything, I'd say Colorado (which Clinton carried in '92) is more libertarian for the way it votes on referendums, but Wyoming is just a standard GOP state with large pockets of Mormons.

I didn't necessarily mean full out libertarian, and should have said libertarian-leaning. Most of any state is going to be filled with generic R's and D's, not much of communitarians or libertarians. I could also make an argument that states like West Virginia and Kentucky are communitarian-leaning (hence why they elect democrats at the state level but disapprove of same-sex marriage or abortion) but that doesn't also make them full on communitarian. Sorry if I misguided you here.

[henster]

Wyoming is about as libertarian as Utah. I haven't seen any kind of support for marijuana legalization or other traditional libertarian issues in Wyoming at all.

[All Along The Watchtower]

Wyoming is about as libertarian as Utah. I haven't seen any kind of support for marijuana legalization or other traditional libertarian issues in Wyoming at all.

Not to mention all the subsidies that Wyoming's business interests (ranching, oil, coal, natural gas) get from the state. Or the fact that so much land is owned by the government (at all levels, but especially the federal) in Wyoming. Or the fact that prostitution and gambling are illegal in Wyoming-where's the libertarian criticism of that? There are also plenty of Mormons and conservative evangelicals in Wyoming.

This is the state that brought America James Watt and Dick Cheney. How is that "libertarian"?

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Another thing is that the urban/rural split wasn't that big until 2000.

[Stranger in a strange land]

Coal is the biggest reason. The urban-rural split from 2000 onwards is another. Wyoming is only about 11% Mormon, and Mormons aren't the main reason why the state is so Republican. The state's heavy reliance on extractive industries and lack of urban centers are.

[TDAS04]

Coal is the biggest reason. The urban-rural split from 2000 onwards is another. Wyoming is only about 11% Mormon, and Mormons aren't the main reason why the state is so Republican. The state's heavy reliance on extractive industries and lack of urban centers are.

Coal is probably a major factor, along with those other things you mentioned.

The problem is you're looking at the margin. Clinton got 34% in 1992 and 37% in 1996. Obama got 33% there in 2008. Not that much of a difference. In Wyoming, almost all of Perot's votes were from people who would've had GHWB/Dole as a second choice, making a deceptively "close" (by Wyoming standards) margin.

True, but Wyoming was the only western state where Obama received a smaller percentage of the vote twice than Clinton twice.  I was wondering what made Wyoming different from, say, Alaska.  Clinton never obtained even 35% in Alaska, but Obama obtained about 41% there in 2012.

Also, while Montana has always been more Democratic than Wyoming, the difference became much greater with Obama.  The losing margins in Montana and Wyoming, respectively, for Clinton in 1996 were 3 and 13, but 2 and 32 for Obama in 2008.

I suppose that the Mormon thing could have something to do with it, as well as Montana's new residents being more liberal.  However, Idaho is more Mormon than Wyoming, but now seems to be a bit to Wyoming's left.

[I Will Not Be Wrong]

Ross Perot, probably.

[Oswald Acted Alone, You Kook]

Obama is Black.

[Peter the Lefty]

Obama is Black.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Wyoming is about as libertarian as Utah. I haven't seen any kind of support for marijuana legalization or other traditional libertarian issues in Wyoming at all.

Not to mention all the subsidies that Wyoming's business interests (ranching, oil, coal, natural gas) get from the state. Or the fact that so much land is owned by the government (at all levels, but especially the federal) in Wyoming. Or the fact that prostitution and gambling are illegal in Wyoming-where's the libertarian criticism of that? There are also plenty of Mormons and conservative evangelicals in Wyoming.

This is the state that brought America James Watt and Dick Cheney. How is that "libertarian"?

Well yeah, that's a big contributor to why people there often have a problem with the federal government.

[DINGO Joe]

There was a thread somewhere on counties that swung 10 or more points towards Romney, they all had a connection to coal and/or Mormonism.

[Person Man]

There was a thread somewhere on counties that swung 10 or more points towards Romney, they all had a connection to coal and/or Mormonism.

There were a lot of mountain communities in Colorado that swung heavily towards Romney. It gives a lot weight to the coal theory, especially since there are a lot of coal towns on the Western slope and even adjacent to ski towns.

[JoeyJoeJoe]

Clinton also looked into competing in WY in 1996.  I think he visited the state in late 1995.