Describe a Goldwater 1964 - McGovern 1972 voter

[darklordoftech]

?

[Skill and Chance]

non-ideological, but super anti-establishment

[TheReckoning]

Harvey Milk, potentially (he was a Republican until he switched parties in 1972).

[CentristRepublican]

I would say Hillary Clinton for sure (she volunteered for both men's campaigns), but I rememebred she wouldn't have been old enough to vote in 1964.

[Alcibiades]

Someone who was raised in a conservative family and was 18 in 1964 (there were a handful of states which already allowed 18 year-olds to vote prior to the passage of the 26th Amendment), and simply copied their parents’ vote. However, they were exposed and converted to liberal/countercultural ideas at college, so that by the time 1972 came they voted for McGovern.

[TDAS04]

Someone just old enough to vote in 1964, attracted to Goldwater's talk about "liberty," while ultimately believing that McGovern liberals were stronger on civil liberties.

[Don't Tread on Me]

I think there was a town in Massachusetts that voted this way

[CadetCashBoi]

libertarian that had soured on Vietnam by 72.

[TheElectoralBoobyPrize]

Republican who lost a son in Vietnam.

[Can't Back Down When Punched!]

Someone who was raised in a conservative family and was 18 in 1964 (there were a handful of states which already allowed 18 year-olds to vote prior to the passage of the 26th Amendment), and simply copied their parents’ vote. However, they were exposed and converted to liberal/countercultural ideas at college, so that by the time 1972 came they voted for McGovern.

That's basically Hillary Clinton's political journey as a young woman, although she wasn't old enough to vote in 1964

[CentristRepublican]

Republican who lost a son in Vietnam.

Very plausible and a good answer - best and most realistic one yet.

I think there was a town in Massachusetts that voted this way

There were counties in MS and AL that voted this way.

[Don't Tread on Me]

Republican who lost a son in Vietnam.

Very plausible and a good answer - best and most realistic one yet.

I think there was a town in Massachusetts that voted this way

There were counties in MS and AL that voted this way.

Barely counts. Most if not all of the people who voted for McGovern in those counties couldn't vote in 1964.

[CentristRepublican]

Republican who lost a son in Vietnam.

Very plausible and a good answer - best and most realistic one yet.

I think there was a town in Massachusetts that voted this way

There were counties in MS and AL that voted this way.

Barely counts. Most if not all of the people who voted for McGovern in those counties couldn't vote in 1964.

Of course.

[lfromnj]

Potter Stewart who was an associate justice of SCOTUS voted this way to limit the landslide .

[CentristRepublican]

Another option: Somebody who (rightly so) trusted neither LBJ nor Nixon and thus voted for their opponents.

[Proud Family Values]

I think there was a town in Massachusetts that voted this way

Does anyone know what the town was?

[TheReckoning]

I think there was a town in Massachusetts that voted this way

Does anyone know what the town was?

There almost certainly wasn’t. Johnson won MA by 53 points. And his weakest County (which he still won by 14) voted for Nixon by 23 points.

[Proud Family Values]

I think there was a town in Massachusetts that voted this way

Does anyone know what the town was?

There almost certainly wasn’t. Johnson won MA by 53 points. And his weakest County (which he still won by 14) voted for Nixon by 23 points.

oh ok.  I noticed from looking at the map just how blue MA swung in 1964 from 1960... which means a lot of people that did not vote for Kennedy voted for Johnson?!?

[TheReckoning]

I think there was a town in Massachusetts that voted this way

Does anyone know what the town was?

There almost certainly wasn’t. Johnson won MA by 53 points. And his weakest County (which he still won by 14) voted for Nixon by 23 points.

oh ok.  I noticed from looking at the map just how blue MA swung in 1964 from 1960... which means a lot of people that did not vote for Kennedy voted for Johnson?!?

Goldwater was successfully portrayed by Johnson as a right-wing extremist, which made him unpopular nationwide, but especially so in the liberal bastion of New England. Additionally, the mourning over JFK, an even stronger force in Massachusetts, made Johnson cruise to an extremely easy victory. What’s interesting is that Johnson’s landslide was not as massive as it would have been earlier in the election season- some polls around Spring Time showed Johnson wiki a 40-50 point lead nationwide.

[Goldwater]

Hypothetically speaking, I could imagine a libertarian type of voter doing this without needing to go through any sort of ideological shift.