California Has More Republican Voters than One May Suspect

In a recent post, California IS Different, But It’s Not TOO Different, I drew the distinction between the urbane sophistication of the state’s coastal region and the rural regions in its interior.

As one may expect, there is a huge chasm in terms of politics between the two areas.  Yes, California is a blue state, and Trump lost the 2024 presidential election to Harris by about 20%, but 20 points is actually fairly close compared to the thumping he gave Harris in the red states that he won by considerable landslides (see map).

Fortunately, California has masses of well-educated people in the counties adjacent to the Pacific Ocean who are generally quite liberal in their thinking.  Yes, there are a growing number of ranchers in the state’s eastern parts, but, for now at least, they’re far outnumbered by the folks fighting the traffic jams and ridiculous real estate prices in IT, entertainment, defense, insurance, professional services, manufacturing, healthcare, and banking.