Mapping out the Left

[TNF]

In which states did our more or less mainstream left wing candidates do the best? Using the election statistics page on each Presidential Election entry on the Atlas, I compiled these maps. I apologize if this has been done before. Just thought it would be neat to have a visualization of where the left did the best and perhaps provoke some kind of conversation as to why.

2012

Jill Stein (Green Party)

2008

Ralph Nader (Independent)

2004

Ralph Nader (Independent)
David Cobb (Green Party)

Alaska was in the top five for both left-wing candidates.

2000

Ralph Nader (Green Party)

1996

Ralph Nader (Green Party)

1992

Lenora Fulani (New Alliance)

1988

Lenora Fulani (New Alliance)

1984

Sonia Johnson (Citizens)

1980

Barry Commoner (Citizens)
Gus Hall (Communist)

D.C. was in the top five for both Commoner and Hall.

[Adam Griffin]

A frequency map (if they were in the top 5 in the same cycle for multiple candidates, then I counted that twice):



Top Three:

AK - 7
DC - 6
OR - 5

[VPH]

Arkansas and the Greens: Arkansas has a decently organized Green party, who at one point had an elected official. Also, there are some hippie towns in the Ozarks where Greens do very well.
Montana and Nader: Missoula County. Super liberal county. Furthermore, Montana seems to have a good tendency to support third parties. Couldn't tell you why, but it seems that way.
Maine and like every left party: Maine has a fierce independent streak and has had it for a while. Along the coast, there's a great concentration of left leaning, environmentally conscious voters.

[TNF]

Ooh, neat. Thanks for that, comrade.

1976

Eugene McCarthy (Independent)

1972

Linda Jenness (Socialist Workers Party)
Benjamin Spock (People's Party)
Louis Fisher (Socialist Labor Party)

Colorado was in the top five for both Spock and Fisher.

1968

Henning Blomen (Socialist Labor Party)
Dick Gregory (Peace and Freedom)
Fred Halstead (Socialist Workers Party)

All three candidates had New Jersey as one of their top performing states. Both Gregory and Halstead had New York as a top five state, and Blomen and Gregory both counted Colorado as a top five state.

1964

Eric Hass (Socialist Labor Party)
Clifton DeBerry (Socialist Workers Party)

Both Hass and DeBerry had New Jersey as a top five state.

1960

Eric Hass (Socialist Labor Party)

1956

Eric Hass (Socialist Labor Party)

1952

Vincent Hallinan (Progressive Party)
Eric Hass (Socialist Labor Party)
Darlington Hoopes (Socialist Party)

Both Hass and Hoopes had Virginia and New Jersey as top five states.

1948

Henry Wallace (Progressive Party)
Norman Thomas (Socialist Party)

Both Wallace and Thomas had New York in their top five states.

1944

Norman Thomas (Socialist Party)
Edward Teichert (Socialist Labor Party)

Both Thomas and Teichert had Minnesota in their top five states.

1940

Norman Thomas (Socialist Party)
Earl Browder (Communist Party)
John Aiken (Socialist Labor Party)

Wisconsin and Maryland were top five states for both Thomas and Aiken. Washington and California were both top five states for both Thomas and Browder. Minnesota was a top five state for both Browder and Aiken.

1936

William Lemke (Union Party)
Norman Thomas (Socialist Party)
Earl Browder (Communist Party)

Oregon was a top five state for Lemke and Thomas. New York and Washington were both top five states for Thomas and Browder.

1932

Norman Thomas (Socialist Party)
William Z. Foster (Communist Party)
William Harvey (Liberty Party)

New York was a top five state for both Thomas and Foster. Washington was a top five state for both Foster and Harvey. And of course, that radical hotbed, Montana, was a top five state for the Socialists, the Commies, and the weirdo Liberty Party that wanted to coin silver as a way out of the Great Depression. (Yes, in 1932)


Next up: The Progressive Era

[TNF]

The Roaring Twenties and the Progressive Era

1928

Norman Thomas (Socialist Party)
William Z. Foster (Communist Party)
Verne Reynolds (Socialist Labor Party)

Washington, Oregon, and Minnesota were top five states for Foster and Reynolds. Florida was a top five state for both Foster and Thomas.

1924

Robert La Follette (Progressive Party)
William Z. Foster (Communist Party)
Frank Johns (Socialist Labor Party)

Minnesota and Wisconsin were both top five states for La Follette and Foster. New York was a top five state for both Foster and Johns.

1920

Eugene V. Debs (Socialist Party)
Parley P. Christiensen (Farmer-Labor Party)

1916

Allan Benson (Socialist Party)
Arthur Reimer (Socialist Labor Party)

1912

Theodore Roosevelt (Progressive Party)
Eugene V. Debs (Socialist Party)
Arthur Reimer (Socialist Labor Party)

Washington was a top five state for both Debs and Reimer. Minnesota was a top five state for both Roosevelt and Reimer.

1908

Eugene Debs (Socialist Party)
Thomas Hisgen (Independence Party)
Thomas Watson (Populist Party)

Nevada was a top five state for both Debs and Hisgen. Florida was a top five state for both Debs and Watson.

1904

Eugene Debs (Socialist Party)
Thomas Watson (Populist Party)
Charles Corregan (Socialist Labor Party)

Washington was a top five state for both Debs and Corregan.

1900

Eugene Debs (Social Democratic Party)
Wharton Barker (Populist Party)
Joseph Maloney (Socialist Labor Party)

Washington and Massachusetts were both top five states for Debs and Maloney, while Florida was a top five state for both Debs and Barker.

1896

Charles Matchett (Socialist Labor Party)


Next up: The Gilded Age

[TNF]

The Gilded Age, Reconstruction, and Civil War

1892

James B. Weaver (Populist Party)
Simon Wing (Socialist Labor Party)

1888

Alson Streeter (Union Labor)

1884

Benjamin Butler (Greenback)

1880

James B. Weaver (Greenback)

1876

Peter Cooper (Greenback)

1872

Ulysses S. Grant (Republican)

1868

Ulysses S. Grant (Republican)

1864

Abraham Lincoln (National Union)

1860

Abraham Lincoln (Republican)


Next Up: Sectional Crisis and Jacksonian Democracy

[TNF]

The Sectional Crisis

1856

John C. Fremont (Republican)

1852

John Parker Hale (Free Soil)

1848

Martin Van Buren (Free Soil)
Gerrit Smith (National Liberty)

Both Van Buren and Smith had New York as one of their top five states. (Or, in Smith's case, his only state of note.)

1844

James G. Birney (Liberty)

1840

James G. Birney (Liberty)


And that's all, folks.

[Indy Texas]

I don't understand the Green strength in Arkansas. Anyone have any background as to why they run so well in a state that you wouldn't expect to be that receptive to their agenda?

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

I don't understand the Green strength in Arkansas. Anyone have any background as to why they run so well in a state that you wouldn't expect to be that receptive to their agenda?

I can imagine that if you have a state where the Democrats have been the centrist establishment party, an alternative looks more attractive to the small faction of those on the left.

[TNF]

It probably helps that the Democratic Party of Arkansas is a wholly owned subsidiary of Walmart. Much in the same way I suppose that West Virginia has a strong local affiliate of the Green Party (relatively speaking, of course.)

[IceSpear]

Here's one for 2012:



You see, the darker red, the stronger the left. The darker blue, the weaker the left.

Sorry, couldn't resist. Interesting thread though. The Greens being relatively strong in Arkansas makes sense, but what about Alaska? Is it just because they're prone to third party voting in general?

[SWE]

^Alaska was actually the first state to get a Green on the ballot (Jim Sykes for Governor in 1990)

[SWE]

Jill Stein's five best states in 2016:

What's going on with Kansas?

[twenty42]

Jill Stein's five best states in 2016:

What's going on with Kansas?

Kansas was weird in 2016, in that neither Trump nor Clinton were good fits for their respective bases the state. This was evident with Sanders and Cruz winning their parties' caucuses handily. This helped to cause a dramatic swing to third parties in the Kansas GE results, going from 2.3% in 2012 to 7.4% in 2016. Stein profited from that chunk.

[NOVA Green]

Just wanted to jump in and say this is a very cool thread....

Anyone want to take a stab at "mapping out the Left" for items such as US Senate or Gubernatorial Elections in recent years and historically?

For example, in 2016 the Working Families Party candidate bagged 3.17% in the Oregon US Senate race and the Greens got 2.5% for a combined 5.7%, which would meet proportional representation requirements in many European Countries.... This doesn't even include the 3.1% that voted for Steven Reynolds, who definitely ran to left and was a former Progressive and Green candidate in other elections. The Left captured 8.8% of the US Senate vote in Oregon in 2016 (Including my Vote)....

https://ballotpedia.org/Steven_Cody_Reynolds_(Oregon)

https://ballotpedia.org/Steven_Cody_Reynolds_(Oregon)