[Political Junkie Too]

California, minus the population centers of Los Angeles and the Bay Area, is SOLIDLY red. More sophistry.

From a district by district (or county by county) standpoint, the original statement is true. The trouble is that the "red" districts are lightly populated central and east California towns.

What is hard to tell is if the blue shift since 2008 is really a demographic trend or just "white guilt" voting for Obama in order to be a part of the "historic" wave.

2000 Presidential election. Blue supported Gore. Red supported Bush.

2003 Recall map. Green supported recall, red supported Gray Davis.

2004 Presidential Election. Blue supported Kerry. Red supported Bush.

2008 Presidential election. Blue supported Obama. Red supported McCain.

2012 Presidential Election. Blue supported Obama. Red supported Romney.

-PJ

[ansel12]

Big colored maps of voting by unpopulated counties has never much impressed me.

43 Tuolumne County 54,008
44 Calaveras County 44,742
45 Siskiyou County 44,154
46 Amador County 37,035
47 Lassen County 33,658
48 Del Norte County 28,290
49 Glenn County 27,992
50 Colusa County 21,411
51 Plumas County 19,399
52 Inyo County 18,495
53 Mariposa County 17,905
54 Mono County 14,348
55 Trinity County 13,526
56 Modoc County 9,327
57 Sierra County 3,086
58 Alpine County 1,129
Source: U.S. Census

[Political Junkie Too]

With the Clinton era, California maps show a moving away from a Clinton 2nd term, even in some counties that voted for him in 1992.

1996 Presidential election. Blue supported Clinton. Red supported Dole. Green supported Perot.

Note that in 1994, Proposition 187, the California immigration reform, was passed.

1992 Presidential election. Blue supported Clinton. Red supported Bush. Green supported Perot.

In 1988, California went for Bush over Dukakis. Blue supported Dukakis. Red supported Bush.

In 1984, only the Bay Area (San Francisco, Oakland, Silicon Valley, and Marin) went for Mondale. The rest of the state went to Reagan.

In 1980, even Silicon Valley voted for Reagan over Carter.

However, the story was mixed in 1976 when it was Carter vs. Ford. Blue supported Carter. Red supported Ford.

-PJ

[kabar]

From a district by district (or county by county) standpoint, the original statement is true. The trouble is that the "red" districts are lightly populated central and east California towns.

Give me a break. We don't have elections decided by territory, but rather, by voters. CA is not mostly red. It is a solid blue state. We are just deluding ourselves with such statements and such maps.

What is hard to tell is if the blue shift since 2008 is really a demographic trend or just "white guilt" voting for Obama in order to be a part of the "historic" wave.

The Democrats have overwhelming control over the state government and the congressional delegation. Republican representation has been steadily declining. If you go district by district for congressional races, you will see how the Dems easily win their races while the Reps are barely winning. The blue shift has been going on for a lot longer than 2008. It is irreversible.