State trends...

[Antonio the Sixth]

Pretty interesting, some notable recent pairs break like WA-OR, AL-MS.

And above all MA-RI.

[Antonio the Sixth]

What I find interesting and funny is that the map is practically flipped from what it is now. Demmy in the south, Republican in the north.

That's not so surprising considering the past of the two parties and how their ideologies totally flipped from 1860 to 1960.

[Antonio the Sixth]

I think this a better understanding of the current coalitions since 1960

Ohio a democratic state ?

[Antonio the Sixth]

I didn't say it was a democratic state along with New Hamsphire its part of the blue firewall since 1960.  LBJ, Carter, and Clinton won Ohio convincingly.

But Carter, Clinton and Obama always won it by a smaller margin that the nation. Ohio is a state that has always been more republican that the average ( except three times, in 1964, 1972 and 2004 ).

[Antonio the Sixth]

I made this map a few months ago so I don't recall the exact percentages that correspond to the colors. At any rate, this is the change in the republican share of the vote in Nebraska since 1960. Suffice to say that the darker the red, the greater the decrease was from Nixon to McCain. For example, Nixon got 62.6% of the vote in 1960 in Lancaster County vs. 46.6% for John McCain in 2008.

There is a strong correlation (but not 1:1) here between population growth since 1960 and decreasing share of republican vote. With a few exceptions, most of the places that have become more democratic  have seen population increases, while those that have lost people, have become more republican. Many counties in western and central NE had fewer votes cast in 2008 than in 1960.

I'm certainly interested in how other states have changed since 1960 and might do so if I have more time....

Very interesting map. Also to note that the same trend for Nebraska seem valid for the whole nation : the States whose population is growing rapidly are also those where democrats are doing better and better ( VA, NC, FL, TX, CO, AZ, NV, WA, OR ), whereas those that are growing very slowly are also getting more republican ( MA, RI, NY, PA... ).