> reds want to have guns and limit birth control, while blues was to have birth control and limit guns. This isn’t very accurate, FWIW (though easy to get this

> reds want to have guns and limit birth control, while blues was to have birth control and limit guns. This isn’t very accurate, FWIW (though easy to get this impression.) The vast, vast majority of Americans want access to birth control and want reasonable limits on guns (regardless of whether they would like to own guns themselves). I think it’s like over 90% in both cases. You might be thinking of the debate over abortion, rather than birth control. Reds might want to own guns more often, but they’re mostly in favor of more gun control than we have today. Blues also want more gun control that we have today, but are slightly more in favor of allowing abortions. These debates, fwiw, are sideshow social signal and tribal politics. They are exaggerating and polarizing the reality of what the populace really wants. The actual distinction between red and blue is (was) fiscal policy. We’ve mostly stopped debating fiscal policy in good faith in this country, but nonetheless the terms “conservative” and “liberal” really came from how we want to tax and spend, and whether we believe in social services and safety nets especially at the federal level (democratic), or whether we prefer that states have more control and we spend less money on social services and disenfranchised people.