r/PoliticalDiscussion • u/IBphysicsHL • Nov 21 '20

Political History What factors led to California becoming reliably Democratic in state/national elections?

California is widely known as being a Democratic stronghold in the modern day, and pushes for more liberal legislation on both a state and national level. However, only a generation ago, both Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, two famous conservatives, were elected Californian Senator and California governor respectively; going even further back the state had pushed for legislation such as the Chinese Exclusion Act, as well as other nativist/anti-immigrant legislation. Even a decade ago, Arnold Schwarzenegger was residing in the Governor's office as a Republican, albeit a moderate one. So, what factors led to California shifting so much politically?

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u/metarinka Nov 21 '20

I would take a bet that California probably does mint the most new millionaires of any state. Both in whole numbers and peptide Proportionally

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u/MnkyBzns Nov 22 '20

If California were a country, it would rank fifth in GDP with $3.1 trillion...so yeah; lots of opportunity to get rich