Marin County, CA

[Mr. Illini]

Marin County, today known as a bastion of rich liberal hippies, went Republican for Ford in 1976 when a host of California counties went to Carter (despite Ford narrowly winning the state).

In 1984, it was one of only 5 California counties to vote for Mondale over Reagan when Ronnie captured a 57% victory in the state.

Why is this? Did Marin's development begin to occur during this time period 1976-1984? Was it the candidates?

[nclib]

The Bay Area thought Carter was too conservative.

But Nixon beat McGovern 52-46, so maybe it wasn't nearly as liberal back then.

[Mr. Illini]

The Bay Area thought Carter was too conservative.

But Nixon beat McGovern 52-46, so maybe it wasn't nearly as liberal back then.

Went back into Marin and pre-1980 Marin was largely solidly Republican in every election. 1984 went narrowly to Mondale and has gone Democrat in every election since, with margins increasing.

Marin is still developing and not all that heavily-populated, so I am guessing that this trend has to do with San Franciscans beginning to develop Marin around this time or in the 10 years leading up.

[All Along The Watchtower]

Also: Ford may have been a Republican, but he would have seemed fairly moderate or even slightly liberal (compared to a growing number of conservatives in the GOP) on issues like abortion, the environment, war and peace, the Equal Rights Amendment, and civil rights more generally-especially compared to someone like Reagan (who, of course, almost beat Ford in the primary in 1976). 

Note that Carter was an evangelical Protestant Southerner with a moralistic image, so it's not like he had much appeal to (largely secular or nominally religious at best) Marin County voters on  "latte liberal" social/cultural issues (although these weren't even as big of a deal in the 1970s as they would become later).

Ford was a Republican who could win Marin in 1976, but as the Republican Party was moving to the Right (with Reagan as the conservative standard-bearer), Marin went in the opposite direction during the 1980s.

[SingingAnalyst]

Sounds like Washtenaw County, MI or Ingham County, MI or Tompkins County, NY or Franklin County, OH or any other northern city with a large liberal university population.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Ford won the San Francisco Bay area. Tompkins was actually a more Republican county, except when a Californian Republican was running.