When and why did California become so liberal? (Arnold: military, statistics)

[somebodyfromnc]

I can remember a day when Republicans used to actually stand a chance in California. It doesn't feel like it was that long ago, but I read a few days ago there are now more "no party affiliation" voters registered than Republicans in the state!

When, how and most importantly, why, did The Golden State turn into a Democrat party stronghold?

[antinimby]

Liberals all over the country gravitate to the coasts and big cities. It happens over time. There is no one time you can point to. Also the Hispanic population is mostly democratic and they’ve exploded in population for the last 40 years. Add in the more moderate and conservative Californians have fled to other states and you have what you have today, which is how the Left has taken over politically.

[Hapa1]

Originally Posted by antinimby

Liberals all over the country gravitate to the coasts and big cities. It happens over time. There is no one time you can point to. Also the Hispanic population is mostly democratic and they’ve exploded in population for the last 40 years. Add in the more moderate and conservative Californians have fled to other states and you have what you have today, which is how the Left has taken over politically.

You answered that very well!

[Elliott_CA]

Originally Posted by somebodyfromnc

When, how and most importantly, why, did The Golden State turn into a Democrat party stronghold?

California became solid blue when the Republicans shifted hard right. The shift to Democrats accelerated when the Tea Party emerged shortly after Obama's election. The Tea Party systematically voted out all of the moderate Republicans in the primaries and selected hard right "true conservatives."

Outside of SF and parts of LA, many Californians are centrists and middle-of-the-road and they find the hard right conservatism and Trumpism to be toxic. So they vote for the Democrat, not necessarily agreeing with the entire Democrat platform, but because in their minds the Democrat represents the lesser of two evils.

The Republican Party could regain a foothold in California if they nominated moderates. But moderate Republicans, even on a national level, are all but extinct now. The decline of Republican Party in California is largely a problem they created for themselves.

[V8 Vega]

California Democrats are now extreme hard left.
When prop. 147 passed that took away benefits to illegal aliens is the beginning of Calif. turning Communist.

[BeauCharles]

The early 2000s were the tipping point (more or less). For some time before that more moderate to conservative mostly white Californians moved out of California in large numbers to other Western states after the big shutdown of military facilities and decrease in defense spending of the early 90s. Aerospace in SoCal took a particularly big hit and a lot of those former workers cashed out their equity and moved. What replaced them were immigrants from the developing world and once naturalized and with their US born children they tended to vote Democrat. Of course more liberally minded people from the rest of US continued to move here as well. Demographically and politically California has changed with lightening speed in the last 30 years.

[James Bond 007]

Originally Posted by antinimby

Liberals all over the country gravitate to the coasts and big cities.

I think you're putting the cart before the horse. It is the prosperous big cities that create liberals, it is just a natural thing. SF, for example, has always been a tolerant city. Think Haight-Ashbury all the way back in the 60's. Even if SF had republican mayors back then, they were probably more tolerant types than the republicans of today. In fact, California was the epicenter of the whole hippie movement, and shortly afterwards, the environmental movement. It just took time to spread to a more entrenched political movement.

I'm sure that even before the 60's there was a strong tone of tolerance in cities like SF. It just became really obvious starting in the 60's.

Your typical California 60's band singing a typical 60's hippie theme ...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxA3Q96a8XE

[James Bond 007]

Originally Posted by V8 Vega

California Democrats are now extreme hard left.
When prop. 147 passed that took away benefits to illegal aliens is the beginning of Calif. turning Communist.

California became liberal long, long before Prop 147.

[Elliott_CA]

Originally Posted by BeauCharles

The early 2000s were the tipping point (more or less). For some time before that more moderate to conservative mostly white Californians moved out of California in large numbers to other Western states after the big shutdown of military facilities and decrease in defense spending of the early 90s.

I have seen the state in-migration and out-migration statistics and the numbers were very small in the 2000's. People moving in and out do not explain the voting shifts.

As I wrote above, it was the Tea Party "primary-ing" out the moderates in the 2000's. They effectively purged all of the Repub moderates and put in hardliners. The one exception was Arnold Schwarzenegger, an anti-Trump moderate. He won his election.

[Winston Smith]

Originally Posted by somebodyfromnc

I can remember a day when Republicans used to actually stand a chance in California. It doesn't feel like it was that long ago, but I read a few days ago there are now more "no party affiliation" voters registered than Republicans in the state!

When, how and most importantly, why, did The Golden State turn into a Democrat party stronghold?

In my view, it didn’t help the party’s “cause” when the last Republican governor of California (a self-anointed outsider, businessman and deal maker) left the state budget in a mess. I also remember in the 90s and 2000s how the legislative agenda was constatnly held up by a handful of Republican legislators who dug in and woudn’t compromise. Maybe Californians just got fed up with partisan bickering and nothing getting done. This in addition to an exodus from California of conservatives moving to western square states and Texas.

That all said, it should be noted that a big chunk of California voters (myself included) are registered NPA—No Party Affiliation. I seem to remember hearing that NPA registration is at record numbers. Speaking for myself, I want what’s practical and sustainable, not what’s ideological. My 2¢.