i dont understand flipping from ford to carter. i know anderson was a factor..but i still dont get it.
who in their right mind said, 'you know, i wasnt sure about this carter fellow in 76, but he has done a helluva job and proved me wrong!'
Well, Reagan was a lot more conservative than Ford, so if someone votes strictly on ideology, it makes sense.
In Vermont and elsewhere in the Northeast. I'm sure a lot of moderate Rockefeller Republicans swung from Ford to Anderson. Some may well have gone from Ford to Carter since Carter was the only realistic chance to beat Reagan, and Reagan's conservative views turned them off.
Four of interest; Marquette, Washtenaw, Monroe, Niagara.
Washtenaw is easy to explain, since Ford was a U of Michigan alumnus. His Presidential library is there, and the school of Public Policy is named for him. Even despite its hard left swing in the last 20 years, Washtenaw always did and still does hold Ford in high esteem as its only alumnus to become President.
Marquette is a little bit more difficult to explain; the home state factor would be the easy answer, but even taking that into account, it was the only Michigan county outside Washtenaw to swing. My understanding of my home county is that while it is reasonably socially conservative it is not big on the "in your face" social conservatism of the Religious Right (lots of Lutherans up here, who while socially conservative on a personal level, tend to be pretty private about it, and don't like it infiltrating politics). So many of them may have been turned off by Carter's strong religiosity in 1976 and then by Reagan's strident social conservatism in 1980.
Plus it's a pretty heavy union area in general, as well as a University town, and both of those tended to show the least overall swing from Carter to Reagan. That combined with the home state factor in 1976 could've done the trick.
I would not have voted for Reagan ever!! but would have for Ford for the reasons listed above. I would have had to decided if I was going to throw my vote away on Anderson or hold my nose for Carter
