So what makes white voters different in Maine and Iowa and Vermont?

[freethought]

11. That's a hard one to explain

I'll try to speak for Maine. I lived there for several years and found it a place that trying to determine the direction of the political winds can be difficult. I will say that there is defenite indepedent streak that runs through the Maine electorate. You can see this in the election of Angus King to Olympia Snowe's senate seat. King ran and won as an independant for Governor several years ago and he left the office with good approval ratings and high marks for a job well done. Last election in 2010 Mainers voted in a Tea Party nutcase named Paul LePage. This was at a time when Maine was bleeding jobs and perhaps just about anyone looked good. For a while his approval rating hovered in the 50% range give or take a few points. Now it seems Maine is having voters regret with LePage. Some polls taken earlier in the year put his approval rating at 41% and a dissapproval rating at 52%. I have read that some people consider LePage somewhat of a media whore and that he has a tendency to invite controversy whenever he opens his big mouth.

What was it that turned Maine off to Romney? I would guess that it may have been his continual flip-flopping or perhaps what came to light about Bain Capital. It is anybody's guess. Perhaps that is something for political scientists to write papers on later.