Also where are all these anti-war voters in Wisconsin supposedly concentrated? It wasn't California. I mean which is it, they're a bunch of "law and order" right-wingers or a bunch of anti-war hippies?
1972 had a large expansion of the electorate with Boomers entering the electorate and the 26th Amendment. University of Wisconsin-Madison was a particularly notorious center of anti-war activities.
But was Dane County alone really enough to explain why Wisconsin voted 13.5 points to the left of the nation? Let alone when the state voted to the RIGHT of the nation for Nixon the previous two times he ran? Then flipped to Carter in a much closer election despite Ford being a seemingly perfect fit for the state and region and Carter... not so much?
It's not like Wisconsin was the only state with college towns or the only state affected by Boomers (who did not show up for McGovern in any case as many expected; at best, it seems their vote was pretty evenly split) entering the electorate, after all.
Let's face it: Wisconsin is just a weird state that often defies explanation. Or at least simple, clean cut explanations. It's a state that's always had a lot of contradictions and strange political patterns. As has been pointed out on this secular blog before, if its rurals/whites voted like Missouri rurals/whites, it would vote to the right of Missouri! Which has a larger share of voters living in a major metro area! Instead, however, we're talking about a state that had some of the strongest white support for Obama in the nation in both his elections, then flipped to Trump (barely) against all polls, then back to Biden (also barely and after he led by 17 points in a late high quality poll). Then had a split governor/senate result in 2022 (the senate result, despite a loss for the Democrat, being to the left of many's expectations and to the left of the 2016 result when the Republican was running against a stronger candidate on paper), and manages to have both one of the most left-wing and one of the most right-wing senators in the country at the same time as a result. And has some of the most staunchly, stubbornly right-wing suburbs in the country in WOW, yet some of the LEAST right-wing rurals! And has a gerrymandered, deeply Republican legislature yet voted double digits for a liberal state Supreme Court justice this year, right after it voted again for Ron Johnson.
I could go on!
The state is just a mess that defies all expectations and clean simple narratives, and has been for a long time. That's why I won't be surprised if it surprises again.
