>I want to know why these folks won't LEAVE shitty redneck states and head to places with more opportunity They're poor, not stupid. Moving to a blue state do

>I want to know why these folks won't LEAVE shitty redneck states and head to places with more opportunity They're poor, not stupid. Moving to a blue state doesn't magically make you richer and opportunity doesn't mean anything unless there's a chance you can capitalize on it. Unless you have a skill or trait that somehow gives you a leg up over the local poors you're destined to be just as poor when you get there. And if you do have some path upward you may as well work that path locally with the benefit of your support network. If you're young, a hard worker and paying into your support network a lot more than you're getting out and don't have a lot of time/effort/money sunk into your support network yet than a bus ticket might be a good idea (and young people often do move long distances). If you're supporting a family then the better bennies might be worth it but if you're supporting a family moving away from your support network without taking several steps backwards in terms of stability is going to be nigh on impossible. One of the biggest things that keeps people poor is an inability to have a financial buffer for unplanned expenses. And everyone knows that relocating is fraught with high risk of those kinds of expenses. If the destination has a higher cost of living all the risks are magnified.