New Hampshire was a crown colony in which most power was held by the royal governor. The legislature was weak – as it still is. So the foundation is that of a government with authoritarian tendencies combined with a popular hatred of that government. Plus ça change.
The New Hampshire Grants (that became VT) were on their own, were governed democratically (if you were a man) and the elected representatives of the towns created Vermont and its government first banning slavery. I love the preamble, 1 paragraph about Britain, and pages about the nefarious Yorkers. In short, the government is us. It is telling that Ralph Flanders, who first attacked McCarthy, was very much a conservative of his times.
At about the same time, an attempt to pass a Vermont Smith Act (basically banning the Communist Party) was laughed out of the legislature just as Louis Wyman, A-G of NH was on the warpath against so-called Communists etc.
Foundations matter. (For another time, check out Pakistan & India.)
I don’t know if that explains why New Hampshire swung wildly to the right for both Houses and nearly so for the Governorship.
On one side of the Connecticut, Democrats and left-leaning Republicans were winning handily. Just across the river, Tea Party Republicans were taking the ballots like nobody’s business.
That’s just weird.