Alpine County, CA

[old timey villain]

This is a small mountain county in Northern California, population 1,175 people in 2010. Bush won by 2 points there in 2000, and in 2012 Obama won it by 22 points! Obama actually did better there in 2008. So in 8 years, it went from lean R to strong D. In that time population and demographics have remained almost unchanged. Anybody know what's going on there?

[freepcrusher]

This is a small mountain county in Northern California, population 1,175 people in 2010. Bush won by 2 points there in 2000, and in 2012 Obama won it by 22 points! Obama actually did better there in 2008. So in 8 years, it went from lean R to strong D. In that time population and demographics have remained almost unchanged. Anybody know what's going on there?

small number of voters making it easy to swing and a large amount of trustfund babies probably.

[DrScholl]

Ski resort county.

[Liberalrocks]

Ski resort county.

A lot of environmentalists, county is in the Mono Lake area. Mono County also voted for Obama and both of these counties voted against Prop 8 in 2008 so I don't see them returning to the GOP anytime soon.

[Sbane]

Also half the population is Mormon. The ski resort factor trumps all I suppose.

[Badger]

The point is, the place going from  a +0 PVI (taking into consideration a relatively large Nader vote) in 200 to about +8 Dem in 8 years is quite an abrupt shift.

[Benj]

Also half the population is Mormon. The ski resort factor trumps all I suppose.

Whether this is actually true is debatable. The religious survey has other errors and is based apparently on the county where one attends religious services rather than where one lives. I'd like to hear from someone local that there are a ton of Mormons in Alpine County before believing.

[memphis]

I think you'll be searching a while for a local. Not too many of them around

[Sbane]

Also half the population is Mormon. The ski resort factor trumps all I suppose.

Whether this is actually true is debatable. The religious survey has other errors and is based apparently on the county where one attends religious services rather than where one lives. I'd like to hear from someone local that there are a ton of Mormons in Alpine County before believing.

Ok, maybe if I go to Kirkwood sometime, I will ask one of the people working there if a lot of mormons live around there. They might look at me weird though.

[minionofmidas]

Actually, the Mormon population of Alpine County dropped from ~50% in 2000 to 0% in 2010 according to the ARDA.

What this means is that there used to be a Mormon meetinghouse in Woodfords (which was founded by Mormons, way back in 1847.) It's membership was equal to half the county's, or four times that of Woodfords itself. Woodfords is situated five miles from the Nevada line, less than fifteen miles from Minden and Gardnerville.
I'm not sure if it was closed down (merged with one of the two Minden-based meetinghouses) or simply moved to Minden... but I'm pretty sure there are still quite a few Mormons living in the county.

Because the ARDA does not count the Native American Church, the only congregation in the county listed in the 2010 report is a non-denominational Evangelical assembly of 50 members; the remainder of the population is "unclaimed".
Alpine County is 20% Washoe Native American - although it includes no reservation land; quite a bit of offreservation trust land though - and the Washoe are to a sizable part Peyotists, the only ones this far west. Have been since 1936.

[Benj]

I think you'll be searching a while for a local. Not too many of them around

Obviously not here. I don't think you'd actually have to be from Alpine County to know, though. Someone from South Lake Tahoe or something would have a sense, I think.

[politicallefty]

When you look at the results, it's actually been a fairly good bellwether over recent years when it comes to statewide races (though not necessarily on ballot propositions). It certainly tends to be more socially liberal than the rest of the state.

[mileslunn]

Typical ski resort.  Most ski resorts tend to be quite liberal compared to surrounding areas.  Places like Blaine County in Idaho and Teton County in Wyoming have swung quite heavily towards the Democrats.  Likewise Pitkin county in Colorado went over 2/3 for Obama and it is a fairly white county.  Summit county in Utah, which has a lot of ski resorts but has a high Mormon population by contrast didn't totally follow this as swung massively towards Obama in 2008, but then in 2012 swung right back, although it would be interesting to see a precinct breakdown and see how much of that came from towns not connected to ski resorts.

[Franknburger]

Typical ski resort.  Most ski resorts tend to be quite liberal compared to surrounding areas.  Places like Blaine County in Idaho and Teton County in Wyoming have swung quite heavily towards the Democrats.  Likewise Pitkin county in Colorado went over 2/3 for Obama and it is a fairly white county.  Summit county in Utah, which has a lot of ski resorts but has a high Mormon population by contrast didn't totally follow this as swung massively towards Obama in 2008, but then in 2012 swung right back, although it would be interesting to see a precinct breakdown and see how much of that came from towns not connected to ski resorts.

But why are the ski resorts so liberal? Latino room-maids and kitchen-aids? Lots of aged hippies that have moved in to sell self-photographed postcards? Or locals getting concerned about climate change possibly eroding their income base (and increasing the risk of landslides sweeping away their homes)?

[Sbane]

Typical ski resort.  Most ski resorts tend to be quite liberal compared to surrounding areas.  Places like Blaine County in Idaho and Teton County in Wyoming have swung quite heavily towards the Democrats.  Likewise Pitkin county in Colorado went over 2/3 for Obama and it is a fairly white county.  Summit county in Utah, which has a lot of ski resorts but has a high Mormon population by contrast didn't totally follow this as swung massively towards Obama in 2008, but then in 2012 swung right back, although it would be interesting to see a precinct breakdown and see how much of that came from towns not connected to ski resorts.

But why are the ski resorts so liberal? Latino room-maids and kitchen-aids? Lots of aged hippies that have moved in to sell self-photographed postcards? Or locals getting concerned about climate change possibly eroding their income base (and increasing the risk of landslides sweeping away their homes)?

Because America is not Europe. Economic issues aren't the only thing in play. In addition many of the people living there would be service workers doing ski and snowboard lessons and other such jobs. Obviously they don't get paid a lot.

[MaxQue]

Typical ski resort.  Most ski resorts tend to be quite liberal compared to surrounding areas.  Places like Blaine County in Idaho and Teton County in Wyoming have swung quite heavily towards the Democrats.  Likewise Pitkin county in Colorado went over 2/3 for Obama and it is a fairly white county.  Summit county in Utah, which has a lot of ski resorts but has a high Mormon population by contrast didn't totally follow this as swung massively towards Obama in 2008, but then in 2012 swung right back, although it would be interesting to see a precinct breakdown and see how much of that came from towns not connected to ski resorts.

But why are the ski resorts so liberal? Latino room-maids and kitchen-aids? Lots of aged hippies that have moved in to sell self-photographed postcards? Or locals getting concerned about climate change possibly eroding their income base (and increasing the risk of landslides sweeping away their homes)?

Think of the Green voters in big European cities. (Brighton, Berlin, Paris...)

[Siloch]

Alpine County, California

2000
Republican 281 votes (47.9%)
Democratic 265 votes (45.2%)
2004
Democratic 373 (53.2%)
Republican 311 votes (44.3%)
2008
Democratic 422 votes (60.8%)
Republican 252 votes (36.3%)
2012
Democratic 389 votes (59.5%)
Republican 236 votes (36.1%)

The county has such a small population, that 5 families leaving the county could completely change the county politically.

[Franknburger]

Typical ski resort.  Most ski resorts tend to be quite liberal compared to surrounding areas.  Places like Blaine County in Idaho and Teton County in Wyoming have swung quite heavily towards the Democrats.  Likewise Pitkin county in Colorado went over 2/3 for Obama and it is a fairly white county.  Summit county in Utah, which has a lot of ski resorts but has a high Mormon population by contrast didn't totally follow this as swung massively towards Obama in 2008, but then in 2012 swung right back, although it would be interesting to see a precinct breakdown and see how much of that came from towns not connected to ski resorts.

But why are the ski resorts so liberal? Latino room-maids and kitchen-aids? Lots of aged hippies that have moved in to sell self-photographed postcards? Or locals getting concerned about climate change possibly eroding their income base (and increasing the risk of landslides sweeping away their homes)?

Think of the Green voters in big European cities. (Brighton, Berlin, Paris...)

Thinking of such voters would make me understand why surfing hotspots are liberal. The typical ski coach, however, would have grown up in the region (i.e  have a rural background), and rather fit the (republican-leaning) "some college" than the (democrat-leaning) "post-graduate" education strata.

[MaxQue]

The typical ski coach is some guy which grew in a city and loved ski and so moved in a ski resort and got a job to fund his passion.

[Sbane]

The typical ski coach is some guy which grew in a city and loved ski and so moved in a ski resort and got a job to fund his passion.

And even more importantly here, the city the ski or snowboard instructor (snowboarding is more popular than skiing these days) would have came from would be the Bay Area. Making them even more likely to be Democrat and hold very socially liberal views.

[Franknburger]

The typical ski coach is some guy which grew in a city and loved ski and so moved in a ski resort and got a job to fund his passion.

And even more importantly here, the city the ski or snowboard instructor (snowboarding is more popular than skiing these days) would have came from would be the Bay Area. Making them even more likely to be Democrat and hold very socially liberal views.

And if not from the Bay Area, he would be from Denver or Boulder - I got your point.
However - what percentage of the total resort population are we talking about here? Probably less than 5%, so there must be other factors at work as well.

[Napoleon]

The typical ski coach is some guy which grew in a city and loved ski and so moved in a ski resort and got a job to fund his passion.

And even more importantly here, the city the ski or snowboard instructor (snowboarding is more popular than skiing these days) would have came from would be the Bay Area. Making them even more likely to be Democrat and hold very socially liberal views.

And if not from the Bay Area, he would be from Denver or Boulder - I got your point.
However - what percentage of the total resort population are we talking about here? Probably less than 5%, so there must be other factors at work as well.

There aren't many people actually living there and even less are voting. You'll have your hotels and food service but those are also Democratic-leaning constituencies.

[Franknburger]

The typical ski coach is some guy which grew in a city and loved ski and so moved in a ski resort and got a job to fund his passion.

And even more importantly here, the city the ski or snowboard instructor (snowboarding is more popular than skiing these days) would have came from would be the Bay Area. Making them even more likely to be Democrat and hold very socially liberal views.

And if not from the Bay Area, he would be from Denver or Boulder - I got your point.
However - what percentage of the total resort population are we talking about here? Probably less than 5%, so there must be other factors at work as well.

There aren't many people actually living there and even less are voting. You'll have your hotels and food service but those are also Democratic-leaning constituencies.

There aren't many people in Alpine, CA. But other resort areas are more populous:

Summit, CO      15,312 votes, 61% Obama, (84% white non-Latino)
Pitkin, CO         10,075 votes , 68% Obama, (88% white non-Latino)
Chaffee, CO      10,462 votes, 48.6% Obama (87% white non-Latino)
Gunnison. CO     8,667 votes, 58,2& Obama (89 % white non-Latino)
Teton, WY        11.464 votes, 54.2% Obama (82% white non-Latino)
 

[Benj]

Typical ski resort.  Most ski resorts tend to be quite liberal compared to surrounding areas.  Places like Blaine County in Idaho and Teton County in Wyoming have swung quite heavily towards the Democrats.  Likewise Pitkin county in Colorado went over 2/3 for Obama and it is a fairly white county.  Summit county in Utah, which has a lot of ski resorts but has a high Mormon population by contrast didn't totally follow this as swung massively towards Obama in 2008, but then in 2012 swung right back, although it would be interesting to see a precinct breakdown and see how much of that came from towns not connected to ski resorts.

But why are the ski resorts so liberal? Latino room-maids and kitchen-aids? Lots of aged hippies that have moved in to sell self-photographed postcards? Or locals getting concerned about climate change possibly eroding their income base (and increasing the risk of landslides sweeping away their homes)?

Think of the Green voters in big European cities. (Brighton, Berlin, Paris...)

Thinking of such voters would make me understand why surfing hotspots are liberal. The typical ski coach, however, would have grown up in the region (i.e  have a rural background), and rather fit the (republican-leaning) "some college" than the (democrat-leaning) "post-graduate" education strata.

This might seem counterintuitive, but skiing is a sport of the social elite in the US, especially the urban social elite. The people who grew up in the rural Rockies don't have a strong ski culture and certainly won't move to towns that sprang up solely as ski resorts. (In some places, like Aspen, they're also priced out.) Everyone who grew up in the ski towns was born to parents who themselves moved there from an urban area.

[Badger]

Typical ski resort.  Most ski resorts tend to be quite liberal compared to surrounding areas.  Places like Blaine County in Idaho and Teton County in Wyoming have swung quite heavily towards the Democrats.  Likewise Pitkin county in Colorado went over 2/3 for Obama and it is a fairly white county.  Summit county in Utah, which has a lot of ski resorts but has a high Mormon population by contrast didn't totally follow this as swung massively towards Obama in 2008, but then in 2012 swung right back, although it would be interesting to see a precinct breakdown and see how much of that came from towns not connected to ski resorts.

But why are the ski resorts so liberal? Latino room-maids and kitchen-aids? Lots of aged hippies that have moved in to sell self-photographed postcards? Or locals getting concerned about climate change possibly eroding their income base (and increasing the risk of landslides sweeping away their homes)?

Think of the Green voters in big European cities. (Brighton, Berlin, Paris...)

Thinking of such voters would make me understand why surfing hotspots are liberal. The typical ski coach, however, would have grown up in the region (i.e  have a rural background), and rather fit the (republican-leaning) "some college" than the (democrat-leaning) "post-graduate" education strata.

This might seem counterintuitive, but skiing is a sport of the social elite in the US, especially the urban social elite. The people who grew up in the rural Rockies don't have a strong ski culture and certainly won't move to towns that sprang up solely as ski resorts. (In some places, like Aspen, they're also priced out.) Everyone who grew up in the ski towns was born to parents who themselves moved there from an urban area.

Firat off, you're vastly overestimating how 'socially elite' skiing (and snowboarding) is in 2013 vs. 1963. Second, ski resort towns reflect the voting habits of people who live there, not the far more moneied elite who visit there.