1960: NV
1964: FL
1968: TX
1972: MA
1976: VA
1980: MA
1984: MN
1988: MD
1992: VT
1996: CO
2000: NH
2004: NM
2008: IN
2012: FL
2016: MI
1960 NV: guessing Vegas workers and employees put JFK over the top.
1964 FL: lot of segregationists in the state. Goldwater dominated the Panhandle and won Orange and Osceola counties (which were GOP strongholds back then), and the Tampa suburbs. This resulted in LBJ winning it by just 2%.
1968 TX: LBJ's home state, so it helped his VP Humphrey. Also Wallace took some Nixon voters.
1972 MA: McGovern was tailor made for college kids and ultra liberal white progressives, who are overrepresented in Boston.
1976 VA: only Southern state that Carter failed to win. VA was one of the first southern states to start going for the GOP due to the influx of northern white Republicans (similar dynamic as now). They work in government and lobbying and wanted the status quo, distrustful of Carter's outsider status.
1980 MA: John Anderson
1984 MN: Reagan was super popular but came a few thousand votes short of winning it.
1988 MD: Crime. The infamous Willie Horton rape and murder occurred in MD.
1992 VT: the state started moving left during the 2nd term of the Reagan presidency, as it has always been a liberal Republican stronghold. HW Bush's emphasis on crime in 1988 did not resonate with the small rural dominated state.
1996 CO: Clinton only won it in 1992 due to Perot. The state was still a GOP state back then.
2000 NH: Bush only won it due to Nader.
2004 NM: Bush got around 40% of the latino vote nationwide, allowing him to barely win NM by 0.8%.
2008 IN: huge voter turnout from blacks in Gary, students in college towns, and Obama winning Marion County (Indianaopolis) due to suburban whites turning against the GOP in the aftermath of the financial crisis.
2012 FL: Obama did better with Latinos in 2012 than in 2008, and this helped him in southern Florida and Orlando, allowing him to win the state by 0.9%.
2016 MI: Trump won Macomb county by 11% and crushed Hillary in rural parts of the state. Also turnout drop in Detroit.
1960: Guess that makes sense.
1964: Actually I was surprised about it going Johnson with the results of it's neighbors.
1968: Yeah that makes sense.
1972: Yeah.
1976: Yeah still was kinda shocking to see it go red.
1980: Yeah.
1984: Pretty much.
1988: That's true.
1992: True. NH and ME were both shocking too.
1996: That's true. CO still went to Clinton by the largest margin of the 3 states Dole flipped.
2000: Pretty much this.
2004: True.
2008: Yeah.
2012: I remember polling had Romney as a favorite to win FL for a decent amount of the campaign and I was surprised when Obama was able to win it.
2016: Yeah.
