Why did Kansas swing towards Clinton?

[smoltchanov]

Kansas tends to be very socially conservative. They prefer evangelicals and voted strongly for Cruz in the primary. Many of them may not have gotten over Trump's "New York values" as Cruz called them.

Then why this year it defeated 14 conservative (including - socially conservative) republican legislators in favor of moderate ones (mostly - pro-choice, pro-SSM and so on) in primary and 12 more - in general election?

[smoltchanov]

Trump also was not a very good fit for the state. Cruz handily beat him there in the caucus.

Caucuses are "activist dominated", so Cruz victory here essentially means nothing. Would it be primary - another matter..

[smoltchanov]

Trump also was not a very good fit for the state. Cruz handily beat him there in the caucus.

Caucuses are "activist dominated", so Cruz victory here essentially means nothing. Would it be primary - another matter..

There is a good chance that Cruz would have won there if they had a primary. He won the caucus by about 24 points, and Trump did quite poorly in the Great Plains states except for the ones that voted after he became the presumptive nominee.

May be, but it's a guess. We will never know for sure..