Alaska 1964

[Sir Mohamed]

Why did usually GOP leaning Alaska vote so heavily for Johnson in 1964? He carried 65.9% of the vote. That's way above the national average and even better than TX.

My guess would be that voters in this state were afraid of Goldwater provoking WWIII, especially with the USSR being just few miles away.

[MIKESOWELL]

Alaska was more of a swing state it's first few years of statehood. Yes, I think Alaska's close proximity to the Soviet Union and the real nuclear threat (the Cuban Missile Crisis was just two years earlier) played a vital role in LBJ's super majority there.

[Sumner 1868]

In addition to the nuclear threat, Alaska has a strong Democratic vote in the first decade after it became a state - largely because it has always been a very unionized state, and Goldwater's anti-labor views were a bad fit for Alaska. The continued labor presence is a major reason why state elections are still competitive even though the GOP locked up the state's electoral votes in the 1970s. I'd also imagine Goldwater's vote against the Civil Rights Act wasn't well-received by Native/Indian voters.

[Chunk Yogurt for President!]

IIRC people in the 50s though Alaska would vote Democrat and Hawaii would vote Republican.

[Crumpets]

I have no idea if this is actually something people would have been thinking about, but Alaska had just suffered a major natural disaster with the Good Friday earthquake/tsunami. Johnson was probably a better bet to give relief funds than Goldwater.