Political change in Vermont from really red to really republican

[The Chill Moderate Republican]

How did Vermont become one of the reddest states in the union during the 1980s? I don't understand why it took its next door neighbor NH to change so slowly  from red to a swing state.

[emcee0]

That would have to require evacuating the entire population of Wyoming and sending them to Vermont, and sending everyone from Vermont to live in Wyoming. That's also how Wyoming would become the most democratic state in the Union.

[SingingAnalyst]

How did Vermont become one of the reddest states in the union during the 1980s? I don't understand why it took its next door neighbor NH to change so slowly  from red to a swing state.

My theory is that VT is historically the most "Yankee" state in the US, with a low percentage of Catholics. Thus, until 1992 it was reliably GOP (except in 1964). The dominant denominations in VT-- United Church of Christ, Unitarian-- formed the backbone of the liberal GOP. Once the GOP firmly established itself as a right-wing evangelical populist party, perhaps with Pat Buchanan's 1992 convention speech, VT sharply went Dem and never looked back.

[PragmaticPopulist]

Starting in the 1960s, Vermont had an influx of people from out of state, and the GOP becoming more right-wing and southern-oriented all contributed to Vermont's dramatic shift in the early 1990s. It's also well-educated for a mostly-rural state, probably because of its geography in the Northeast.