Why did Washington state vote Republican in 1960, 1976, and 1980?

[(Still) muted by Kalwejt until March 31]

Washington State is King County; King County is Washington State. John Anderson (1980's version of a modern liberal Illinois Democrat) got over 10% of the vote there. Nixon and Ford appealed to the college-educated somewhat more than Kennedy and Carter due to being so-called "sensible moderates" (i.e., RINOs).

[(Still) muted by Kalwejt until March 31]

Can someone more familiar than I am with Pac NW politics demonstrate why Washington voted Humphrey in 1968 then Ford/Reagan in 1976/1980?  Even if '80 had been a cliff hanger, Reagan still would have carried the state: he won by 12%, 2% more than his national average plus had 49.66% despite John Edwards muddying the waters.  Based on earlier replies, it seems we can conclude that Washington was more or less a moderate/'rockefeller' republican state in the 1960-1980 era, but what happened in '68?  Did George Wallace's 7% of the state vote muddy the waters?  Did the anti-war hippies around Seattle skew to Humphrey?

-Washington State was within three points in 1968 (and 1960 as well) and Wallace got over 6%. So yeah, I think he had an effect, since Wallace generally took more votes from Nixon than Humphrey. And Humphrey's Minnesotan appeal probably extended to other northern WASPy states better than JFK's.

The more curious question is why Washington went for Wilson in 1916.

[(Still) muted by Kalwejt until March 31]

Can someone more familiar than I am with Pac NW politics demonstrate why Washington voted Humphrey in 1968 then Ford/Reagan in 1976/1980?  Even if '80 had been a cliff hanger, Reagan still would have carried the state: he won by 12%, 2% more than his national average plus had 49.66% despite John Edwards muddying the waters.  Based on earlier replies, it seems we can conclude that Washington was more or less a moderate/'rockefeller' republican state in the 1960-1980 era, but what happened in '68?  Did George Wallace's 7% of the state vote muddy the waters?  Did the anti-war hippies around Seattle skew to Humphrey?

-As for Reagan, his under-46% performance in King, WA was nearly turned into a majority by places like Spokane.

[(Still) muted by Kalwejt until March 31]

Can someone more familiar than I am with Pac NW politics demonstrate why Washington voted Humphrey in 1968 then Ford/Reagan in 1976/1980?  Even if '80 had been a cliff hanger, Reagan still would have carried the state: he won by 12%, 2% more than his national average plus had 49.66% despite John Edwards muddying the waters.  Based on earlier replies, it seems we can conclude that Washington was more or less a moderate/'rockefeller' republican state in the 1960-1980 era, but what happened in '68?  Did George Wallace's 7% of the state vote muddy the waters?  Did the anti-war hippies around Seattle skew to Humphrey?

-Washington State was within three points in 1968 (and 1960 as well) and Wallace got over 6%. So yeah, I think he had an effect, since Wallace generally took more votes from Nixon than Humphrey.

Actually, there's plenty of evidence to suggest otherwise.  First, most of Wallace's southern supporters were segregationist Democrats, not Republicans.  Now, some of you may point out that Humphrey was pro-civil rights.  That's true, except segregationists were Democrats above all else, a fact that is easily demonstrated by their support of other pro-civil rights Democrats, such as JFK.  Outside the south, most of Wallace's support came from blue-collar union voters who were solidly Democrat and far more likely to vote for Humphrey than for Nixon.  I suspect the shift in Washington state had more to do with the strength of the anti-war movement, especially after Humphrey began distancing himself from Johnson and the Vietnam War.

-Wrong. Compare the 1960 to 1968 vote in Livingston, Oakland, Montmorency counties, Michigan. Overall, a solid majority of Wallace votes came from Nixon or would go to Nixon in 1972 (~70%). Yes, there were some New Deal Democrat places (especially very Catholic ones like Macomb County) where the Wallace vote came predominantly from Dems. But in most places, it came from natural Nixonians, as Kevin Phillips amply documented in The Emerging Republican Majority.

JFK became wildly unpopular in the South during the course of 1963, when southerners realized he was serious about civil rights. Thus, the Goldwater win in the Deep South (nobody was a more committed conservative Republican at the time than Goldwater).

Remember, 1968 came after 1964.

[(Still) muted by Kalwejt until March 31]

Washington was quite close in 1968 and 1976, so we're not talking about a huge difference. Washington was a swing state through the 80s, partly because the Western half of the state wasn't quite as populous, but also because it wasn't much of a tech hub before then.

-No; Washington State was urbanized from a surprisingly early point and King County always voted with the state during the 20th century. Kennedy and Carter did not have that much techie appeal -Richard Nixon got exactly the same percentage of the vote in San Francisco in 1960 and 1972 and Carter won a solid 52% of the vote there.

[(Still) muted by Kalwejt until March 31]

Washington was quite close in 1968 and 1976, so we're not talking about a huge difference. Washington was a swing state through the 80s, partly because the Western half of the state wasn't quite as populous, but also because it wasn't much of a tech hub before then.

-No; Washington State was urbanized from a surprisingly early point and King County always voted with the state during the 20th century. Kennedy and Carter did not have that much techie appeal -Richard Nixon got exactly the same percentage of the vote in San Francisco in 1960 and 1972 and Carter won a solid 52% of the vote there.

You do know that Western Washington (and King county as it so happens) is more than just Seattle? A lot of suburbs, such as Bellevue, have grown quite a bit since the 1960s/70s. Also, as I mentioned, it wasn't a tech hub before the 80s, so its residents weren't as liberal on average as they are now.

-King County's population in 1960 was just under half of its population in 2010, but the city of Seattle grew far less during that time, so you are correct as to the matter of suburban expansion. It's certainly true King County is far more liberal today than in the 1960s-1970s (judging by the Goldwater v. McGovern vote). However, partisan affiliation was still very much in flux over the 1960s and 1970s, and the GOP still had an advantage among the college-educated except in GOP landslides. So if Seattle was a tech hub before the 1980s, I doubt that would have affected its voting patterns much.

[(Still) muted by Kalwejt until March 31]

Can someone more familiar than I am with Pac NW politics demonstrate why Washington voted Humphrey in 1968 then Ford/Reagan in 1976/1980?  Even if '80 had been a cliff hanger, Reagan still would have carried the state: he won by 12%, 2% more than his national average plus had 49.66% despite John Edwards muddying the waters.  Based on earlier replies, it seems we can conclude that Washington was more or less a moderate/'rockefeller' republican state in the 1960-1980 era, but what happened in '68?  Did George Wallace's 7% of the state vote muddy the waters?  Did the anti-war hippies around Seattle skew to Humphrey?

-Washington State was within three points in 1968 (and 1960 as well) and Wallace got over 6%. So yeah, I think he had an effect, since Wallace generally took more votes from Nixon than Humphrey. And Humphrey's Minnesotan appeal probably extended to other northern WASPy states better than JFK's.

The more curious question is why Washington went for Wilson in 1916.