Why does seem that Arizona has more far-right weirdos that any other state per capita?

[Adam Griffin]

being extremely rural outside the Phoenix/Tuscon areas,

Does Arizona really have that many rural whites? It's not northern New England.

No. Somewhere in the vicinity of 6-8% of Arizonans could be defined as white people who live in rural areas that are also heavily-white. If you want to include all white rural Arizonans regardless, the figure is probably a bit over 10% of the state.

And another consideration for any demographic analysis of the state: rural AZ isn't really all that much whiter on balance than metro AZ. We're talking about the difference between low-to-mid 60s for the former versus mid-to-high 50s for the latter. Perhaps the biggest difference between the two areas is that rural AZ is substantially more Native (and less Latino) than metro AZ.

[GM Team Member and Deputy PPT WB]

Snowbird havens are full of insane boomers. Hence why we get places like Arizona, Florida, and Orange County CA. Also Vegas to some extent, though that city is crazy for a multitude of other reasons.

Vegas, conceptually, sounds like it comes from some fantasy novel. Oh yeah, a hub of gambling and addiction, all the vices of the world you could ever want, all in the middle of the god damn desert.

[the artist formerly known as catmusic]

being extremely rural outside the Phoenix/Tuscon areas,

Does Arizona really have that many rural whites? It's not northern New England.

Ha! Yeah, they do have a lot - although a lot of those places have some Hispanic population as well who tend to be more conservative. There are vast swaths of the state with almost no people but a giant ranch here or there, parts of the state are to this day inaccessible except by dirt road. I grew up there so I remember it well!

[Pres Mike]

AZ Republicans do seem odd compared to other western states. It was my understanding that Western Republicans tended to be more moderate compared to the south and midwest. At least in Montana, Dakotas, Kansas, Nebraska. Sometimes even Utah.

I know Idaho is an extreme example...

[longtimelurker]

Why does it seem like San Francisco and Portland have more far-left weirdos per capita?  The West has always been America's most ideological part of the country, being disconnected from the structured establishments and hierarchies of the East Coast 

San Francisco wasnt always left wing:

https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/celebrating-womens-suffrage/california-women-suffrage-centennial

But on Election Day, October 10, 1911, the measure was soundly defeated in the San Francisco Bay Area and just barely passed in Los Angeles. Disheartened and disappointed, suffragists began to plan yet another campaign when late reports from the far flung counties began to swing the vote in their favor.

When the long count was finally completed several days later, Equal Suffrage had passed by only 3,587 votes – an average majority of one vote in each precinct in the state! The final tally was 125,037 to 121,450. As suffragists had hoped, work in the rural districts successfully overcame the more organized opposition in the cities. With the passage of votes for women in California, the number of women with full suffrage in the U.S. doubled, and San Francisco became the most populous city in the world in which women could vote.

Also neither was Portland:

https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/07/racist-history-portland/492035/



SF and Portland becoming left wing was a product of the 1950s and 1960s

San Francisco had its problems with racism and old-school anti-Semitism through at least the 1950's.  Baseball star Willie Mays had a hard time finding a place to live in SF when the team moved there in 1957.  When a (Jewish) real estate agent then tried to help him find a place, the agent was deluged with anti-Semitic letters and phone calls.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/chronicle_vault/article/Chronicle-Covers-When-Willie-Mays-was-denied-10518685.php

and portions of his authorized biography: Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend