In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Rhode Island had strongly Republican Partisan Voting Indexes (PVIs) like most of New England. Rhode Island became more Democratic in the 1920s because of a high proportion of Catholics. In the 1960s, Rhode Island swung sharply left. At 80%, it was second only to Washington DC’s 85% in the percentage of the vote for Lyndon Johnson (D) in 1964. Rhode Island was at its most Democratic relative to the country in 1968, though the early 2000s saw somewhat of a rebound. Come 2016, Rhode Island went back to being about as Democratic as it was in the 1980s, though with different coalitions now.
Providence County, home to the immigrant-heavy cities of Pawtucket, Central Falls, and Providence (state capital and home to Brown University), has been the more Democratic county in the state. Even with these strong Democratic tendencies, Providence County has Scituate, the only town to vote for John McCain (R) in 2008, and towns in the west of the county that trended Republican. Washington County historically was the most Republican/least Democratic county until it was surpassed by Kent County in 2008.
PS: The town data I found goes back to 1980. Finding data for earlier elections is one of my longer-term projects.
Here are the results by table.
Here are the results by map. I have the town maps in the last 10 slides.