Most socially conservative state in New England

[NOVA Green]

It depends upon one defines a social conservative, since like any other catchall phrase looses a lot of detail if it is bandied around without context.

If we look at a few keys subjects commonly considered part of the "social conservative" movement like Abortion Rights, Gay Marriage, and Gun restrictions we see a considerable amount of variation within the six states of New England....

From most socially conservative to less socially conservative:

1.) Abortion Rights
      A.) Rhode Island--- 63% PRO
      B.) Maine----          64% PRO
      C.) New Hampshire 66% PRO
      D.) Connetticutt     67% PRO
      E.) Vermont           70% PRO
      F.) Massachusetts   74% PRO

2.) Gay Marriage
     A.) Maine---   63% PRO
     B/C VT/CT---  67 % PRO
     D.) RI---        70% PRO
     E.) MA---       73% PRO
     F.)  NH----      75% PRO

3.) Support for greater gun restrictions....
     A.) NH--- 54%
     B.) ME--  55 % (Wide gap between ME-01 and ME-02 here)
     C.) VT---  59%
     D.) RI/MA/CT roughly between 62-67% depending upon CD

So if we look at abortion, gay marriage, and guns as the core parts of social conservatism, it appears that Maine places towards the top of all three categories....

The water is much muddier as for the 2nd / 3rd string contenders...

It definitely looks like Mass. is the least socially conservative state in New England on these issues, and if it wasn't for CT's relatively lackluster support for Gay Marriage, I would probably put at as the second most socially liberal state in New England....

Anyone want to chime in with some other metrics and themes of social conservatism that I didn't reference above based on public polling numbers by state?

[NOVA Green]

It depends upon one defines a social conservative, since like any other catchall phrase looses a lot of detail if it is bandied around without context.

If we look at a few keys subjects commonly considered part of the "social conservative" movement like Abortion Rights, Gay Marriage, and Gun restrictions we see a considerable amount of variation within the six states of New England....

From most socially conservative to less socially conservative:

1.) Abortion Rights
      A.) Rhode Island--- 63% PRO
      B.) Maine----          64% PRO
      C.) New Hampshire 66% PRO
      D.) Connetticutt     67% PRO
      E.) Vermont           70% PRO
      F.) Massachusetts   74% PRO

2.) Gay Marriage
     A.) Maine---   63% PRO
     B/C VT/CT---  67 % PRO
     D.) RI---        70% PRO
     E.) MA---       73% PRO
     F.)  NH----      75% PRO

3.) Support for greater gun restrictions....
     A.) NH--- 54%
     B.) ME--  55 % (Wide gap between ME-01 and ME-02 here)
     C.) VT---  59%
     D.) RI/MA/CT roughly between 62-67% depending upon CD

So if we look at abortion, gay marriage, and guns as the core parts of social conservatism, it appears that Maine places towards the top of all three categories....

The water is much muddier as for the 2nd / 3rd string contenders...

It definitely looks like Mass. is the least socially conservative state in New England on these issues, and if it wasn't for CT's relatively lackluster support for Gay Marriage, I would probably put at as the second most socially liberal state in New England....

Anyone want to chime in with some other metrics and themes of social conservatism that I didn't reference above based on public polling numbers by state?

Did you just make thise numbers up?

No... numbers regarding Abortion are from a Pew poll from 2014...

http://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/compare/views-about-abortion/by/state/

Numbers regarding Gay Marriage is from a Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) national survey from 2015.

http://www.prri.org/spotlight/map-every-states-opinion-on-same-sex-marriage/

You could look at the Williams Institute (UCLA ) survey by state from 2012 which shows a slightly different pattern, but one would surmise that on this issue as public attitudes have shifted dramatically in just the past few years, the most recent data would be more representative.

http://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/research/marriage-and-couples-rights/public-support-for-marriage-for-same-sex-couples-by-state/

The data on support/opposition for great gun restrictions is from July 2016, and is actually broken down by CD.

https://www.isidewith.com/map/2Y5/support-for-gun-control#z5

[NOVA Green]

So thinking through this further, my thought is how well have Republican candidates fared in New England running on a "socially conservative platform"?

This is obviously a complicated subject, since you have an obvious issue of:

1.) Timing---- NH first primary in the nation, other states voting a few months later, etc...

2.) Primaries/Cacauses----   ME Republican electorate much more skewed towards "movement Republicans" that tend to over represent Social Conservatives.

3.) Open/Closed Primaries---- The diversity of voters in the Republican primaries can vary immensely from state to state regardless of timing and method of selecting the party nominee within the state

4.) Themes emphasized by the Republican candidate running. Buchanan in '92 was maybe a really bad fit for NH on social issues but better fit on "limited foreign intervention" and "trade policy" for example, but might well have played better in Maine/ Rhode Island with a combination of timing and cross-over voters..... or maybe not?

In theory, Mitt Romney's "Social Liberalism" should have killed him in certain parts of New England during the '12 primaries, but it really didn't, likely because of points #1 and #3.

Not so sure about McCain '08, but in a part of the country where cultural/social conservatives account for a smaller section of the base Republican electorate, his relatively Liberal social policies didn't appear to hurt him very much, if at all....

Maybe someone on the Forum with better knowledge and background regarding Republican Primary historical performance than myself can jump in on this one, but it would seem that despite the difficulties in objectively matching the data, we can potentially discern something on this by relative levels of support of Republican Presidential candidates in New England over the past 25 years with a higher level of association with traditional "social conservative" agenda items (God, Gays, Guns???)... idk you tell me.