Politics

Main articles: Politics of Massachusetts and Political party strength in Massachusetts

See also: Green-Rainbow Party, Massachusetts Democratic Party, Massachusetts Republican Party, and United Independent Party

Gubernatorial election results^[247]

Year	Democratic	Republican
1958	56.2% 1,067,020	43.1% 818,463
1960	46.8% 1,130,810	52.5% 1,269,295
1962	49.9% 1,053,322	49.7% 1,047,891
1964	49.3% 1,153,416	50.3% 1,176,462
1966	36.9% 752,720	62.6% 1,277,358
1970	42.8% 799,269	56.7% 1,058,623
1974	53.5% 992,284	42.3% 784,353
1978	51.2% 1,030,294	46.0% 926,072
1982	59.5% 1,219,109	36.6% 749,679
1986	68.7% 1,157,786	31.2% 525,364
1990	46.9% 1,099,878	50.2% 1,175,817
1994	28.3% 611,650	70.8% 1,533,390
1998	47.4% 901,843	50.8% 967,160
2002	44.9% 985,981	49.8% 1,091,988
2006	55.6% 1,234,984	35.3% 784,342
2010	48.4% 1,112,283	42.0% 964,866
2014	46.5% 1,004,408	48.4% 1,044,573

Presidential election results^[247]

Year	Democratic	Republican
1952	45.5% 1,083,525	54.2% 1,292,325
1956	40.4% 948,190	59.3% 1,393,197
1960	60.2% 1,487,174	39.6% 976,750
1964	76.2% 1,786,422	23.4% 549,727
1968	63.0% 1,469,218	32.9% 766,844
1972	54.2% 1,332,540	45.2% 1,112,078
1976	56.1% 1,429,475	40.4% 1,030,276
1980	41.8% 1,053,802	41.9% 1,057,631
1984	48.4% 1,239,606	51.2% 1,310,936
1988	53.2% 1,401,416	45.4% 1,194,644
1992	47.5% 1,318,662	29.0% 805,049
1996	61.5% 1,571,763	28.1% 718,107
2000	59.8% 1,616,487	32.5% 878,502
2004	61.9% 1,803,800	36.8% 1,071,109
2008	61.8% 1,904,098	36.0% 1,108,854
2012	60.7% 1,921,290	37.5% 1,188,314
2016	60.0% 1,995,196	32.8% 1,090,893

Throughout the mid 20th century, Massachusetts has gradually shifted from a Republican-leaning state to one largely dominated by Democrats; the 1952 victory of John F. Kennedy over incumbent Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. is seen as a watershed moment in this transformation. His younger brother Edward M. Kennedy held that seat until his death from a brain tumor in 2009.^[248] Massachusetts has since gained a reputation as being a politically liberal state and is often used as an archetype of modern liberalism, hence the usage of the phrase "Massachusetts liberal".^[249]
Massachusetts routinely votes for the Democratic Party, with the core concentrations in the Boston metro area, the Cape and Islands, and Western Massachusetts outside Hampden County. Pockets of Republican strength are in the central areas along the I-495 crescent, Hampden County, and communities on the south and north shores,^[250] but the state as a whole has not given its Electoral College votes to a Republican in a presidential election since Ronald Reagan carried it in 1984. Additionally, Massachusetts provided Reagan with his smallest margins of victory in both the 1980^[251] and 1984 elections.^[252]
As of the 2014 election, the Democratic Party holds a significant majority over the Republican Party. Only 35 of the 160 seats in the state house^[253] and 6 of the 40 seats in the state senate belong to the Republican Party.^[254]
Although Republicans held the governor's office continuously from 1991 to 2007 and from 2015 onwards,^[239] they have been among the most moderate Republican leaders in the nation.^[255][256] In the 2004 election, the state gave Massachusetts senator John Kerry 61.9% of the vote, his best showing in any state.^[257]In 2008, President Barack Obama carried the state with 61.8% of the vote.^[258]

Massachusetts registered voters as of February 2016[259]
Party		Number of Voters	Percentage
	Unenrolled	2,277,760	53.32%
	Democratic	1,490,335	34.89%
	Republican	468,295	10.96%
	United Independent	16,476	0.39%
	Green-Rainbow	5,285	0.12%
Political designations		13,684	0.32%
Total		4,271,835	100%

In the 2010 special election for the U.S. Senate, Republican Scott Brown defeated Democrat Martha Coakley by a 52% to 47% margin only to lose the seat in the 2012 Senate election to Elizabeth Warren, the first female senator to represent Massachusetts.^[260][261]
A number of contemporary national political issues have been influenced by events in Massachusetts, such as the decision in 2003 by the state Supreme Judicial Court allowing same-sex marriage^[262] and a 2006 bill which mandated health insurance for all Bay Staters.^[263] In 2008, Massachusetts voters passed an initiative decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana.^[264] Voters in Massachusetts also approved a ballot measure in 2012 that legalized the medical use of marijuana.^[265]