vermont?
True Democrat:
Vermont has had a big influx of liberals. Just look at Nixon's numbers in 1972 to Reagan's in 1984. Dukakis barely lost it.
I spent the winter writing songs about getting better:
this is proof that comparing states to the national average does mean something.
Reagan won Vermont both times, but both times below his national average. Vermont was trending Democratic, but it wasn't until the Democrats ran a candidate who nationwide (Clinton) that they could finally break it once and for all. Now Vermont is beyond safe Dem.
WalterMitty:
brtd, reagan still won vermont by 17 points and carried every county.
Erc:
Vermont has been trending steadily Democrat since 1892, if not before.
Vermont was ridiculously republican up until 1912 or so [even voting for Taft], extremely Republican from 1916 to 1960.
In 1964, Goldwater did worse than his national average...but that was a fluke election by all accounts. Even so, the Republicans never really did recover. Their last bright spot was the very respectable +6.8 in 1976...and it's been a Democrat state since. In 1980 probably because of Anderson...it was essentially dead even in 1984...and then fell off from there. 2000 saw a major recovery for the Republicans--mainly caused, however, by the dropoff of Perot (who got 12% in 1996), and the addition of Nader (who got nearly 7%). 2004 saw a dramatic improvement for the Democrats, who established a level of superiority in the state unseen since Ike's 1956 victory.
As to why? Combination of factors, including the general switch of the NE to liberal--plus the gradual invasion of MA / NY folks.
phk:
If they quit bashing Massachusettes, Republicans would do much better in the Northeast. Same goes for Democrats and the South.
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