Idaho

Congressional Races:
Districts 1 | 2

Senatorial Race

Population (1994): 1,133,000 (up 12.5% from 1990), 0.4% of U.S. total

Voting-age population: 803,000; 1994 turnout, 51%

Median age: 31.5 years

Median household income: $31,536 ($728 below U.S. median)

Unemployment: 5.1% (0.5% below U.S. average, March 1996)

Last presidential election:

Clinton (D): 28%

Bush (R): 42%

Perot (I): 27%

Congressional delegation: No Democrats, four Republicans

The Gem State, famous for potatoes, continuous snow in winter, and Ruby Ridge, sometimes seems like two states in one: the southern section, with its flourishing high-tech industries and conservative Republican politics, influenced by the substantial Mormon population that migrated north from Utah in the 1860s, and the more remote northern areas, filled with Idaho's notorious militias and survivalists. At some level, resentment of government seems to unite the Idaho population, probably because the Feds own 65% of the state's land, including national forest and wilderness areas; and this year's hot-button issue is the huge Idaho National Engineering Laboratory and its store of "temporary" nuclear waste.

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