Idaho: A Red stronghold that gave Trump a 30% lead over Biden in the lost 2020 contest

Located in the mountainous west of America, Idaho is nicknamed the “Gem State” for being rich in minerals and quarrying of precious stones in its hills. It is also known in the US for its potatoes. Some estimates say that it produces about one-third of the US’s annual potato yield. Its economy is, however, mixed including manufacturing, agriculture, mining, forestry and tourism.

The name “Idaho” was originally suggested for Colorado. The word “Idaho” was used for a steamship that transported goods and people in the Columbia River. The discovery of gold on the Clearwater River in 1860 marked an important turn in its history. The digging began and people started calling it the Idaho mines.  

The name sounds similar to an American Indian phrase “E Dah Hoe [How]”. But the state’s official website says “Idaho” is a coined or invented word, and is not a derivation of the Indian phrase which supposedly means “gem of the mountains”.

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Believed to be the last of the 50 American states to have been sighted by Europeans, Idaho gained statehood in 1890. It is known for its political support for the Republicans over the past several decades. It has had four electoral votes since 1912.

Who are the voters?

Idaho is predominantly White in its demographic composition. As per the 2020 census, about 87 per cent of almost 2 million people are White including Hispanic. Around six per cent are of mixed race. Asians are between one and two per cent.

How has Idaho voted in the US presidential election?

In the early decades, Idaho shuffled from Republicans to Democrats and back. It voted for the Republicans through the 1910s and changed its track after the First World War. It voted for Democratic Party five consecutive times after 1928, through the Great Depression and World War II. Democrats won the fifth straight election here in 1948 before the great shift happened..

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In 1952, Dwight Eisenhower flipped Idaho as he won his first term. Since then, Idaho has not voted for a Democrat except in the Lyndon Johnson election of 1964. This means that no Democrat nominee has taken a lead over a Republican rival in Idaho in the last 56 years over 14 US presidential elections.

In 2020, Republican Donald Trump, who lost the presidential election to Democratic Party nominee Joe Biden, but secured a lead of over 30 percentage points in Idaho.

However, Idaho has not given the US a president yet.