Why did San Diego County turn so blue?

[Arbitrage1980]

Historically it was solid GOP, voting FDR 1944 and then GOP until Clinton 1992. After going to Dole and W Bush twice, it went for Obama 08 by 9.8 points. Hillary won it by nearly 20 points! Was this due to demographics? The county is still mostly white and fairly affluent.

[Gracile]

San Diego turning was mostly a case of changing demographics - a larger share of Hispanic voters over time combined with Obama/Democrats improving among college-educated whites. It's the same process that is occurring in Orange County, though the demographics of San Diego became favorable much earlier.

[John Dule]

Mexicans.

[TML]

Clinton in 1992 was the first Democrat in the contemporary era to win the city of San Diego proper. Democratic influence then gradually spread to nearby suburbs, finally overtaking Republican strength in the outer parts of the county by 2008, and leading to increasing Democratic victories by 2016 and beyond.

Currently, whites only form a plurality (not a majority) of the population in San Diego county, and over two-thirds of adults have had some form of higher education. These things combine to make this area a Democratic stronghold.

[Plankton5165]

Historically it was solid GOP, voting FDR 1944 and then GOP until Clinton 1992. After going to Dole and W Bush twice, it went for Obama 08 by 9.8 points. Hillary won it by nearly 20 points! Was this due to demographics? The county is still mostly white and fairly affluent.

It also went for Obama in 2012 by just 7.5 points.

[UWS]

Because Trump

[Tartarus Sauce]

Mexicans.

It's as Hispanic as Orange County to the north yet turned blue before it, so that doesn't explain it.

[Starry Eyed Jagaloon]

Mexicans.

It's as Hispanic as Orange County to the north yet turned blue before it, so that doesn't explain it.

It has an urban core with whites who turned Democratic before their suburban counterparts. OC had a more deeply ingraned religious right component as well.

[Tartarus Sauce]

Mexicans.

It's as Hispanic as Orange County to the north yet turned blue before it, so that doesn't explain it.

It has an urban core with whites who turned Democratic before their suburban counterparts. OC had a more deeply ingraned religious right component as well.

Exactly, Hispanics aren't the demographic that accounted for it's leftward shift sooner than Orange County.

[Fwillb21]

Beach communities such as Encinitas, Carlsbad, and Oceanside also likely have played a role. Also likely college-educated whites in Vista and San Marcos.

[Plankton5165]

And Clinton won it by exactly 20 points. Yeah, that is pretty mighty.

"San Diego" it's hard to believe Obama only won it by 7 in 2012. (just like MN, NV, and WI.)

[Calthrina950]

A fascinating thing about California in the 2016 election is that Clinton won four of the five counties Barry Goldwater carried in the state in 1964-Alpine, Mono, Orange, and San Diego. Trump carried only Sutter County, though of course he won large blocs of counties in Central and Northern California that Johnson had carried.

[TDAS04]

Because it’s a diverse, urban/suburban, coastal California County.

[morgankingsley]

A fascinating thing about California in the 2016 election is that Clinton won four of the five counties Barry Goldwater carried in the state in 1964-Alpine, Mono, Orange, and San Diego. Trump carried only Sutter County, though of course he won large blocs of counties in Central and Northern California that Johnson had carried.

That is intriguing actually

[TDAS04]

A fascinating thing about California in the 2016 election is that Clinton won four of the five counties Barry Goldwater carried in the state in 1964-Alpine, Mono, Orange, and San Diego. Trump carried only Sutter County, though of course he won large blocs of counties in Central and Northern California that Johnson had carried.

That is intriguing actually

And half (3 out of 6) of the California counties carried by McGovern were won by Trump.