A tale of two college towns and two counties:
Amherst, MA:
1936 - 66% Landon
1948 - 69% Dewey
1960 - 60% Nixon
1972 - 67% McGovern
1984 - 74% Mondale
2004 - 85% Kerry
Hanover, NH:
1936 - 58% Landon
1948 - 75% Dewey
1960 - 62% Nixon
1972 - 57% McGovern
1984 - 54% Mondale
2004 - 76% Kerry
Tompkins County, NY (Ithaca):
1936 - 64% Landon
1948 - 68% Dewey
1960 - 66% Nixon
1972 - 59% Nixon
1984 - 51% Mondale
2004 - 64% Kerry
Washtenaw County, MI (Ann Arbor):
1936 - 51% Landon
1948 - 64% Dewey
1960 - 61% Nixon
1972 - 52% McGovern
1984 - 51% Nixon
2004 - 64% Kerry
Fascinating. My guess is a mix of the following:
1.) Professors were always a Democratic group overall, but it was more mixed. Moderate Republicans were a significant force and the GOP was less openly anti-intellectual and explicitly Christian then. Humanities and social science professors always leaned Democrat, as did natural scientists but there was a stronger Republican minority in the past. Even engineering and business professors probably vote Democrat now but they were Republican in the 1960s.
2.) Students have moved to the left since the 1960s. Before then students were often disproportionately Republican and were a more elite group.
3.) The electorate was less dominated by professors and students, and with these towns being fairly prosperous, the non-academic residents were more Republican-leaning. Since the 1960s the number of students and professors have grown immensely, and many more students could vote after 1972, etc.
