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If I remember correctly, from clicking through every single 'Presidential election results' page on Wikipedia...and scrolling down to the 'county results' map, even Seattle voted Republican a few times (Reagan for example...but even Vermont voted statewide for Reagan...or Nixon sheesh! What a landslide!)
It's hard to believe now, but Vermont was once pretty solidly Republican. It was one of only two states that FDR never won. (Maine is the other) From 1832 to 1960 Vermont never went for a Democrat in the Presidential election. From 1968 to 1988 it also didn't go for a Democrat in the Presidential election. From 1854 to 1963 all of Vermont's governors were apparently Republican.
Vermont Republicans were often moderate Republicans, but I don't think the state was originally quite so Left. Although they were fairly progressive on race from an early point.
California has been voting Democratic in Presidential Elections since 1992, and Democratic Party Identification (although PID is a lagging indicator) has outnumbered Republican Party PID in California since 1994.
However, a huge number of Californian Democrats are willing to vote for Republican officials (IE Schwarzeneggar) if they appear to be Centrist, or vote for Conservative Measures if it suits their interest (IE Prop 13 back in 1978, Prop 8 this past election).
Even during the 2004 Election, a plurality of Southern Californians voted for Kerry since 41% of Southern Californians live in Los Angeles County (~10/24 million). Don't let the maps deceive you. Remember: land doesn't vote.
In the end, one party rule is bad for all. It's good if there is some kind of balance.
California has been voting Democratic in Presidential Elections since 1992, and Democratic Party Identification (although PID is a lagging indicator) has outnumbered Republican Party PID in California since 1994.
However, a huge number of Californian Democrats are willing to vote for Republican officials (IE Schwarzeneggar) if they appear to be Centrist, or vote for Conservative Measures if it suits their interest (IE Prop 13 back in 1978, Prop 8 this past election).
Even during the 2004 Election, a plurality of Southern Californians voted for Kerry since 41% of Southern Californians live in Los Angeles County (~10/24 million). Don't let the maps deceive you. Remember: land doesn't vote.
In the end, one party rule is bad for all. It's good if there is some kind of balance.
Southern Cal is not as liberal as the Bay Area and that's a fact. I'm not saying Socal is republican but they do vote more conservative then the Bay Area as a whole.
Southern Cal is not as liberal as the Bay Area and that's a fact. I'm not saying Socal is republican but they do vote more conservative then the Bay Area as a whole.
I didn't realize you were contrasting the Bay Area with Southern California. However, the largest part of Southern California lives in Los Angeles County which is nearly as liberal as the Bay Area (LA County voted 69.2% for Obama, and have voted more than 60% for Democratic candidates since 1996) The Bay Area as a whole (which has less people than LA County, keep in mind) voted 73.8% for Obama. That's not that huge of a difference.
However, your point still stands Once you add Central California, then California as a whole drops. It's a good thing that Sacramento and San Diego are relatively moderate voting areas to keep the rest of this crazy state sane
I think San Diego and Orange County could count as "Southern California" and that that might be what the person meant.
California is large enough that I'd think there would be a wide variety. Fresno, Glenn, Imperial, Kern, Kings, Lassen, Madera, Merced, Sutter, and Tulare counties went strongly for Propositions 4 (parental notification on abortion) and 8 (opposition to same-sex-marriage). So some parts of California might even be a bit socially conservative.
I think San Diego and Orange County could count as "Southern California" and that that might be what the person meant.
But then the comparison would be flawed, since the Bay Area has only 7.3 million people in 8,700 square miles (total of all counties) while Southern California has 24 million people over 56,000 square miles (total of all counties). I was only using LA County (10 million people over 8,000 square miles) since it was more equitable in total size and nearer to population. It's being intellectually honest.
However, she still has a point; there is an obvious conservative slant over much of Southern California that you can't find anywhere in the Bay Area. However, once you move a county over from the immediate Bay Area, it becomes way more conservative (San Joaquin County, Sacramento Metro, Lake County) except for Mendocino to the north.
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California is large enough that I'd think there would be a wide variety. Fresno, Glenn, Imperial, Kern, Kings, Lassen, Madera, Merced, Sutter, and Tulare counties went strongly for Propositions 4 (parental notification on abortion) and 8 (opposition to same-sex-marriage). So some parts of California might even be a bit socially conservative.
I actually like the fact that California has representation on all sides. Unfortunately, like most of the national political scene, we hear more and more of the extreme liberals and conservatives, and less and less of the moderates.
Moderates don't make good copy. I'm not exactly a moderate, but I think we could use more moderation these days. Maybe start like a movement for balance and civility. "The Warm Milk Party" movement where everyone is relaxed and it's forbidden to call anyone a Nazi or Communist
It's hard to believe now, but Vermont was once pretty solidly Republican. It was one of only two states that FDR never won. (Maine is the other) From 1832 to 1960 Vermont never went for a Democrat in the Presidential election. From 1968 to 1988 it also didn't go for a Democrat in the Presidential election. From 1854 to 1963 all of Vermont's governors were apparently Republican.
Vermont Republicans were often moderate Republicans, but I don't think the state was originally quite so Left. Although they were fairly progressive on race from an early point.
There are very few Republicans left anywhere in the US who are ideologically comparable to the Republicans of the Northeast and New England in the years prior to the right-wing take-over of the party in the 1980s.
Looking at voting histories from 20 years ago isn't very useful - state political climates have changed.
Well there's the "Cook Partisan Voting Index." Going by it Hawaii, Vermont, Massachusetts, New York, and Rhode Island are the most Democratic while Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, Oklahoma, and Alabama are the most Republican. The most Democratic districts are in NYC then as mentioned there's DC. The most Republican district is Alabama's 6th, which is mostly suburbs of Birmingham, Alabama. Texas's 13th district is second most Republican and contains the cities of Amarillo and Wichita Falls.
Sioux County, Iowa; Jackson County, Kentucky; and Ochiltree County, Texas would still be very high as Republican. In Jackson County Obama did one point worse than Kerry, in Ochiltree he did about the same as Kerry, and in Sioux he did a bit better. Madison County, Idaho would also be way up there for Republican. I think that's the county that had those schoolkids chanting about killing Obama.
On the Democratic side I forgot Shannon County, South Dakota. It's located in the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and is very Democratic in most elections. Also Starr County is another largely Hispanic county, like Duval, that's consistently and strongly Democratic.
Note: I'm not all that interested in politics these days, or I'm trying to be less so anyway, but I do like statistics and wondering what they say of a place. One thing I've noticed is places that are highly Dutch Protestant tend to be highly Republican.
Well I don't know about the most republican county (probably somewhere in Texas, the Mountain West, or Deep South), but in the last presidential election Prince George's County here in Maryland provided Obama with his largest winning percentage (89.5%). The 89% of voters in Bronx County (the Bronx) who voted for Obama/Biden, was actually slightly less than the PGC percentage.
It's not really surprising that Prince George's had the highest percentage since they have the best selection of Obama's best demographic: educated, wealthy, and minority. Prince George's County is a minority-majority county and the wealthiest one in the country.
Technically though, the District of Columbia (which borders Prince George's County), actually had the highest percentage (93%).
As for the most Democratic states (apart from DC), I would say (in this order):
1. Massachusetts
2. Vermont
3. New York
4. Maryland
5. Rhode Island
(yep, no California--it's not really as liberal/Democratic as it's perceived to be)
California is much more liberal than New York [not sure about the other states]. New York state legislature has had a strong Republican presence. NYC often has Republican mayors. New York still doesn't not allow gay marriage or marijuana use. In-fact I can't think of a state more liberal than California. Maybe you can give reasons for your assumption that California is "not really" liberal.
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Once you add Central California, then California as a whole drops. It's a good thing that Sacramento and San Diego are relatively moderate voting areas to keep the rest of this crazy state sane 
