3 ms·
> It's very, very important to remember that there are many very right-wing people in "blue" states—just as there are many very left-wing people in "red" states
by User23 4y ago
> It's very, very important to remember that there are many very right-wing people in "blue" states—just as there are many very left-wing people in "red" states. In fact, every state in the nation is some shade of "purple", with the strongest concentrations of one end of the political spectrum being around 60-70%.
It's mostly an urban versus rural divide. The states with the really big and politically influential cities all reliably have their elections won by Democrats and the states without big cities, or at least without politically powerful ones, all reliably have their elections won by republicans. Needless to say, the toss-up states have something of a balance of political power.
I presume the effect is largely due to self-selection. The arrow of causality is almost certainly political orientation causing choice of where to reside. In my experience Democrat voters who move to a rural area don't become Republican voters, they become miserable and go on and on, mostly online, about just how awful everyone else around them is. One sees a similar, but less noticeable, effect with Republicans in cities.
- leereeves 4y agoLest anyone believe that only Republicans do this, you should know that the two judges in the Kids for Cash scandal (Michael Conahan and Mark Ciavarella) were Democrats. And several blue states (Hawaii, New Mexico, Vermont, Colorado ) hold many prisoners in private prisons. Others used to. There's more involved here than "Republicans are bad people".
- amanaplanacanal 4y agoMy memory is that after the success of the Reagan presidency, the Democratic Party (in an effort to regain power) embraced a lot of the free trade, privatization, and tough on crime ideas that had been home in the Republican Party. See the Clinton administration. So here we are.
- buttercraft 4y agoI don't know if it's self selection. If you spend your life in the country farming, hunting, and fishing around people just like yourself, you tend to have different values than you would if you grew up in a city, surrounded by culture and variety.
- maxfurman 4y agoYou're exaggerating a bit - Pennsylvania has Philadelphia but occasionally goes red, most recently in 2016. Swing states do exist.