Compare/contrast American Presidential elections

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So if I am to look at a state that is in the middle of the alphabet, almost exactly middle in its position of acquiring statehood, and generally close to the national average in voting.... you guessed it, Michigan.

1976, Ford winning. He was the Favorite Son, and either got little effect from such or Michigan would have otherwise gone to Carter by about 5%.



Carter still did well in the UP (there was still much mining). Ford apparently did well in counties from Grand Rapids to Lansing. The Republican proclivity to win in the suburbs remains strong, with Ford winning Oakland and Macomb counties.

1984: Reagan landslide. Mondale won three counties in the Upper Peninsula but only one (Wayne) in the Lower Peninsula.  This is what 59-40 looks like for a Republican in Michigan.



Close to the opposite of the 1984 shellacking of Mondale in Michigan was 2008. Michigan was freakishly good to Obama that year, in part because of an economic meltdown that reminded people of the Great Depression at its start.



It is hard to imagine Michigan going as sharply for Reagan in 1984 or for Obama in 2008... ever.

Now for two very close statewide votes for President: 2016 (slightly more than 10,000 votes was the margin, and Trump won)



and 2020 (over 150,000 votes, but less than 3%)



Kent (Grand Rapids), Leelanau (a county that even looks a lot like coastal California except in the winter), and Saginaw Counties suggest the difference. Or did the larger margin of votes in Wayne and Washtenaw Counties?"