Thanks! Of course this begs the question why ME was so much more Democratic than NH in the first place. Why did it vote several points to the left of NH until 2016? It’s always struck me as a state that’s more Democratic than it "should be," especially considering the success ME Republicans have had downballot even after 1992.
My best guess is that residents in ME are socially conservative/fiscally liberal, and were attracted to Democrats' economic policies for a time, until Trump came along and adopted some of these economically populist positions himself.
How socially conservative is Maine? I didn't know they had a big traditional Catholic, LDS, or Evangelical population. They probably have some traditional Irish.
They actually had quite a sizable influx of Catholics in the forms of French-Canadians and Irish during the industrial era. More importantly, they have the highest proportion of Evangelicals of any of the New England states (18% IIRC). So it's probably safe to say that they are the most socially conservative of the New England states. Still, that's socially conservative by New England standards, so not overwhelmingly so. The real opportunity for Republicans making inroads lays with the aging, non-college, white population that's
culturally conservative and reactionary on race and immigration issues.
