ABSTRACT
The Mountain States electoral patterns appear indicative of those emergining elsewhere and suggest that a national realignment is underway. The backdrop to understanding the electoral politics of the Mountain States is the relationship between population and landscape. A richly varied American Indian civilization existed in the Mountain States prior to European settlement. The traditional importance of grazing and mining to the region and the continuing sense that inhabitants had to wrest a living from the land all contributed to the widely shared perception that the mountains were the permanent frontier. The electoral history of the Mountain States may be defined in vivid contrast with the South. People were attracted to the region because of recreational opportunities, the beauty of the landscape, and the climate. This very landscape became a factor in politics in that it generated sustained political controversy over the relationship between the landscape and its inhabitants.
