Alpine County, CA

[Badger]

The point is, the place going from  a +0 PVI (taking into consideration a relatively large Nader vote) in 200 to about +8 Dem in 8 years is quite an abrupt shift.

[Badger]

Typical ski resort.  Most ski resorts tend to be quite liberal compared to surrounding areas.  Places like Blaine County in Idaho and Teton County in Wyoming have swung quite heavily towards the Democrats.  Likewise Pitkin county in Colorado went over 2/3 for Obama and it is a fairly white county.  Summit county in Utah, which has a lot of ski resorts but has a high Mormon population by contrast didn't totally follow this as swung massively towards Obama in 2008, but then in 2012 swung right back, although it would be interesting to see a precinct breakdown and see how much of that came from towns not connected to ski resorts.

But why are the ski resorts so liberal? Latino room-maids and kitchen-aids? Lots of aged hippies that have moved in to sell self-photographed postcards? Or locals getting concerned about climate change possibly eroding their income base (and increasing the risk of landslides sweeping away their homes)?

Think of the Green voters in big European cities. (Brighton, Berlin, Paris...)

Thinking of such voters would make me understand why surfing hotspots are liberal. The typical ski coach, however, would have grown up in the region (i.e  have a rural background), and rather fit the (republican-leaning) "some college" than the (democrat-leaning) "post-graduate" education strata.

This might seem counterintuitive, but skiing is a sport of the social elite in the US, especially the urban social elite. The people who grew up in the rural Rockies don't have a strong ski culture and certainly won't move to towns that sprang up solely as ski resorts. (In some places, like Aspen, they're also priced out.) Everyone who grew up in the ski towns was born to parents who themselves moved there from an urban area.

Firat off, you're vastly overestimating how 'socially elite' skiing (and snowboarding) is in 2013 vs. 1963. Second, ski resort towns reflect the voting habits of people who live there, not the far more moneied elite who visit there.

[Badger]

I don't deny that most skiers/snowboarders don't come from lower income, but one must face reality that, like golf and tennis, is now solidly middle-class.

The concept that 'drifter kids of the people who visit there' is in any way a measurable demographic of ski towns.......wowzers.

[Badger]

I don't deny that most skiers/snowboarders don't come from lower income, but one must face reality that, like golf and tennis, is now solidly middle-class.

The concept that 'drifter kids of the people who visit there' is in any way a measurable demographic of ski towns.......wowzers.

What? Golf or tennis is middle class? Talk about woefully out of touch. How many people making $50k a year do you actually know? Outside of retired people, they're both still games played only by the upper middle class and rich people.

Other than myself (give or take), I know plenty in that salary range.

Court and tee fees have drpped dramatically in recent decades with the growth of public facilities. Tennis and golf of course are they sports of choice among the wealthy, but considering players of the sport to be primarily rich is relying on a black and white comedy about Ms Moneypenny and her guests being shocked at Abbott and Costello's antics on the links.