Why was Idaho so close in 1960?

[electionsguy259]

Always found it strange that JFK performed well for a Democrat in Idaho, getting around 46% of the statewide vote, due to the state's reputation for conservatism. It is especially odd when you consider that Goldwater almost won the state four years later, and that Idaho was one of the only places outside of the South with JFK-Goldwater counties.

[TheTide]

I think JFK's performance shows that it was becoming (or had become) a Republican/conservative state. 1960 was the first 'normal' choice of candidates since 1948 (Eisenhower not really becoming a 'normal' candidate with 'normal' appeal) and it leaned significantly rightwards compared to the nation overall. In the FDR/Truman eras it not only voted consistently for the Democrats, it sometimes did so by bigger margins than those seen in the national PV.

The 1960s did seem to have a big impact on Idaho's politics. Aside from Goldwater almost winning it, Wallace got one of his highest percentages (12.55%) outside of the South and Border states and John Schwitz got 9.30% in 1972. Ford won it by comfortably over 20% in an election full of competitive states.

[Fancyarcher]

When you consider that numerous states we consider blood red these days like Utah, Nebraska, the Dakotas were also relatively close, and trended considerably to the right, it shouldn't be considered that surprising.

Despite LBJ's landslide win, 1964 was still a continuation of the trends that began in 1952. Idaho was just notable because it was won by a hair.

[DS0816]

Always found it strange that JFK performed well for a Democrat in Idaho, getting around 46% of the statewide vote, due to the state's reputation for conservatism. It is especially odd when you consider that Goldwater almost won the state four years later, and that Idaho was one of the only places outside of the South with JFK-Goldwater counties.

Idaho was a bellwether state. It voted for all U.S. presidential election winners from 1904 to 1956, a period of 52 years and 14 consecutive election cycles. (A sixty-year parallel followed that with Ohio also having that streak.)

[Blow by blow, the passion dies]

JFK was a good fit for conservative Catholic voters in the Midwest and West

[Joe McCarthy Was Right]

Idaho actually trended Republican in 1960. It was not all that Republican of a state at the time. Most of its statewide office holders were Democrats.

[Schiff for Senate]

I figured there may be something Catholic to do with it; there were actually a couple of Kennedy-Goldwater counties in ID for whatever reason.

[E-Dawg]

JFK was a good fit for conservative Catholic voters in the Midwest and West

Is this purely because JFK was catholic, or are there other reasons he was a good fit for these voters?

[Blow by blow, the passion dies]

JFK was a good fit for conservative Catholic voters in the Midwest and West

Is this purely because JFK was catholic, or are there other reasons he was a good fit for these voters?

He was an efficient government liberal, instead of a big government liberal like FDR or LBJ

[wnwnwn]

It was like the last or second last election before 'culture wars' made the rural mountain west safe republican.
Also, democrats were starting to focus more on the corn belt and industrial areas in the Midwest, which nake the parties switch for some decades in trade.

[America Needs a 13-6 Progressive SCOTUS]

Idaho was mostly settled by people moving from the US South after the civil war, right?

[Sumner 1868]

Idaho was mostly settled by people moving from the US South after the civil war, right?

Not exclusively, but an awful lot. Civil rights was very unpopular in Idaho:

https://scholarworks.boisestate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1090&context=history_facpubs

[TDAS04]

I figured there may be something Catholic to do with it; there were actually a couple of Kennedy-Goldwater counties in ID for whatever reason.

I don't think Idaho ever had that many Catholics, though. As I believe has been mentioned in one of the above posts, Idaho trended R from 1956, and the Interior West just was not as Republican back then (Harry Truman swept the entire region, last Democrat to accomplish that) as it would be during the 1968-2004 period.

[Agonized-Statism]

A very last hurrah for Bryanite Western populism with the apolitical war hero Republican off the ticket, right before the sea change in American society of the 1960s and generational turnover realigned flyover country. In part, it was a reaction to the severe 1950s drought and low farm prices, looking at how the state and surrounding region swung to Stevenson in 1956, and probably exacerbated by the recession of 1958.