Talk Elections

Most interior west states swung Democratic in 2004.

Why:

-GOP becoming less libertarian
-gun control emphasized less than in 2000

Any other reasons??

Actually, the interior West swung Republican.

Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Nevada, and the Dakotas swung Democratic.

New Mexico and Texas swung Republican by less than the national average.

Both of those reasons are actually rather inconsequential to the "Democratic" swing in those states. I would guess it would have to do with less Western leftists voting for Nader. The swings to the Democrats in those states probably have to do more with Democratic voters turning away from Nader and other third party candidates back to the Democratic Party.

South Dakota was the only state there where Bush's percent actually fell.

I think it was the only state nationally where that happened, right?
Gun control definitely played a role, and so did Nader's strong showing in 2000 (though not all of Nader's Interior Western voters were former Democrats. Many had voted Perot in the 90s), and so did increased registration in holiday resorts.

New Hampshire was the only state to swing from Bush to Kerry in 2004.

Swing in the context that we use it in, means a swing in a various candidate's percentage that is not completely able to flip a state but shows a trend toward one party or the other.

Vermont also

Remember the Maine!

Nader exaggerated the result, but even with Nader's votes added to Gore and Kerry, 9 of the 14 Interior West states swung more Democratic than the national average.

Excluding the states from North Dakota to Texas, it was 6 of 8.

So what's the cause of this? Economic decline? Libertarianism? Generalized neglect? Traditional anti-incumbency?

Apart from the Nader vote, the main thing is probably:
Relatively higher importance of gun rights over religious right issues.

It's probably because Bush had already almost reached the ceiling of GOP strength. He carried those states with such huge percentages in 2000 that there simply wasn't much room for improvement. No real "swing" toward the Democrats, no trend.

Just a quick point:

From Religion & Public Life in the Mountain West: Sacred Landscapes in Transition, a detailed survey/analysis  of the region...

There are three religious cultures in the Mountain West.

Arizona and New Mexico are dominated by Catholicism.

Utah and Idaho are dominated by Mormonism.

Colorado, Wyoming and Montana are dominated by pluralism (i.e., there is no one dominant religion, and plenty of 'seculars').

Naturally, it's more complicated than that, but it's a good rule of thumb.

And no, they do NOT consider Nevada part of the Mountain West. :P

and North Carolina.

Those were the 3.

In Montana, Democrats did some serious domination at the statewide level. That probably helped.

Wyoming also has a Democrat governor. somehow...

Perhaps, but keep in mind that Utah (of course very different politically from the rest of the Interior West) swung towards the GOP past the national average (the only ultra-Republican state to do so).

Judy Martz (outgoing Governor) was pretty unpopular.