No my question is why are those particular states always voting republicans. What are the specific characteristics of those states that make them choose that party instead of the other one.
The Great Plains have a long history of Republicanism. Kansas was the site of battles over slavery years before the Civil War. Free-staters eventually won and that led to early Republican dominance. The plains were also socially quite conservative from the time of their settlement. Prohibition began on the Plains in the 1880's, and none of the states from the Dakotas to Oklahoma ever ratified the repeal amendment. That social conservatism on the Plains has remained to this day.
In presidential voting, the Republican trend goes back to statehood for ND, SD, NE and KS. The first non-GOP electoral votes were by ND and KS in 1892 for Populist candidate Weaver (Cleveland wasn't on their ballots!) All but ND voted for Byran in 1896, but he largely ran as a Populist and prohibitionist and still got no more than 51% in any of those states. From 1900-1908 they were back to the GOP except for NE in 1908 again for Byran. 1912 was a split election with Wilson winning all but SD on the split vote between TR and Taft, and he got the same three in 1916. The states returned to the GOP in 1920 and only crossed over for FDRs sweeps in 1932 and 1936. All four voted against FDR in 1940 and 1944. Since 1936, only in 1964 did any of the four Plains states vote for a Democrat.
