What makes Ohio so [damn] stable (inelastic) in its voting patterns?

[pbrower2a]

Ohio is close to a microcosm of America. The state has some gritty urban areas (Cleveland, Akron, Toledo, Dayton), stable rural areas, and coal country. It is close to the national average in ethnic mix. It has little high-flying  high tech.  It straddles regions, including well-defined parts of the Rust Belt and Appalachia.

Ohio has not offered a Favorite Son nominee for President since it offered both Cox and Harding -- in 1920.  Even Michigan had Gerald Ford.

So let's look at who the Favorite Sons were since 1972:

1972  Nixon CA              McGovern SD
1976  Ford  MI               Carter GA
1980  Reagan CA           Carter GA
1984  Reagan CA           Mondale MN
1988  GHW Bush TX       Dukakis MA
1992  GHW Bush TX       Clinton AR
1996  Dole KS                Clinton AR
2000  GW Bush TX         Gore  TN
2004  GW Bush TX         Kerry MA
2008  McCain AZ            Obama IL
2012  Romney  ??          Obama IL

It's hard for me to figure what state has Romney as a Favorite Son.               

Many of the states have undergone some transition from being strongly Democratic to being strongly Republican or vice-versa (think of West Virginia and  Vermont). Republicans have effectively won the fundamentalist Protestant vote while offending the secularist moderates that used to be "liberal Republicans".

I'm tempted to show a contrast map; 1976 and 2012 suggest themselves. 

[pbrower2a]

I'm tempted to show a contrast map; 1976 and 2012 suggest themselves. 

OK -- here we go:

Obama 2008 and  2012, Carter 1976
Obama 2008, Romney 2012, Carter 1976
Obama 2008 and 2012, Ford 1976
Obama 2008, Romney 2012, Ford 1976
McCain 2008, Romney 2012, Carter 1976
McCain 2008, Romney 2012, Ford 1976

(The two Congressional districts, which should appear in orange, do not show.

It is amazing that fully 322 electoral votes that went for Carter in 1976 or for Obama in 2012 completely shifted. 

[pbrower2a]

Also worth noting: Ohio has not given America a nominee for President or Vice-President for a very long time.  The Favorite Son effect is strong, which explains how Ohio could be more D than Michigan in 1976 even though Michigan is usually more D in Presidential elections.