Conservative or Liberal?? (Santa Fe, Alamogordo, Chaparral: health insurance, live, military)

[abqsunport]

Originally Posted by Towanda

I don't differentiate between San Francisco liberals and Wisconsin liberals...or New Mexico liberals.

Liberalism has to do with what your core beliefs are, and not where you live.

Well I what I think was meant is that there are a lot differecences in peronalities from a typical Southern Democrat compared to a San Francisco liberal. However, you are right, both of their votes end up in the same place.

[mike0421]

And do the math: Albuquerque is 40% Hispanic. Hispanics overwhelmingly vote for Democrats: In the 2004 election, Bush managed to gather 40% of the Hispanic vote, which was an all time high for a presidential candidate. Additionally, 6% of the population is black or Native American. These groups vote 90% for the Democrats. Add to the fact that Albuquerque is a college town, so most of the white faculty members as well as students will sympathize with socialist causes, and to me, you have a cumulative population that would vote overwhelmingly Democrat.

[Towanda]

Mike ... then what explains Congresswoman Heather Wilson pulling off a win in her district, which (I think) includes ABQ? She is quite conservative.

[mike0421]

Originally Posted by Towanda

Mike ... then what explains Congresswoman Heather Wilson pulling off a win in her district, which (I think) includes ABQ? She is quite conservative.

That's easy Towanda. If you look at Wilson's district, it includes all of Torrance County, which voted 62.4% for Bush in the 2004 election, as well as a portion of Valencia County, which voted for Bush 55.9%. Also, notice how parts of Bernalillo County (the western portion) are in Representative Pearce's district, the more conservative (and more white) census tracts. Welcome to the wonderful world of gerrymandering! These boundaries are unatural, and completely lack logic. That is, unless you pick the brain of political operatives, which are the source behind these demarcations. They will essentially mimic to you what I've been saying. These folks know what percentage of each race and demographic votes for whom, and formulate these boundaries every 10 years. The census takers seem like they are in the throes of asking innocent questions to you, but in fact, the political ramifications behind their questionnaire is the backdrop to the engine that runs this country. But I digress. Let's go back to the subject at hand.
If you focus in on the congressional boundary for the 1st and 3rd congressional districts, notice the ethnic breakdown versus the border:



There are two outliers within the Wilson boundary, but this was an outmoded tract boundary, I suspect that if you overlaid the current district map, the boundary would be relocated around those two tracts. Otherwise, notice the higher percentage of Hispanic residents in Udall's district, within Sandoval County, where as Wilson's district within the county has a lower % of Hispanic residents.

I could literally pan this map around countless other boundaries within the state, and perform similar spatial analysis.

Finally, keep in mind that Wilson has only won this district by 3 or less % points the last 3 elections, with the margin becoming progressively smaller. This race was still in dispute until about 2am during the last election. The Democrats constantly have this district on their target list, and I believe Wilson running for Senate has everything to do with the fact she is reading the tea leaves, as well as the continuing demographic shifts within this district to see her time is up. My prediction is a Democrat will take over this seat during the next congress and will hold it for a long, long time. Furthermore, I wouldn't be surprised if the Democrat had a Hispanic surname, which should solidify the seat for Democrats as long as that person holds office. This politician will be insured a 60% automatic majority before he or she even has to campaign on one issue.

[GregW]

Wonderful explanation. Thank You

Have they done the same with the Senate districts?

PS I am personally an constitutional conservative and a very economic and social liberal.

[mike0421]

Originally Posted by GregW

Wonderful explanation. Thank You

Have they done the same with the Senate districts?

PS I am personally an constitutional conservative and a very economic and social liberal.

Every 10 years these districts are re-formulated, based on census counts. I am not sure of the particulars, but I recall there was an intense debate in the Texas state legislature where Democrats basically left the Texas border when house sessions were called, to protest a nefarious act by Tom DeLay. It had to do (once again) with gerrymandering. I think gerrymandering is a dispicable way to circumvent the fair election process. There is an article about it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerrymandering

What it does is essentially nullify fair elections within about 80% of our house districts. Again, the census tract boundary is the basis for these divisions.

Ideally, the tract boundaries would be dissolved, and districts could be based upon land instead of population. The boundaries would become less arbitrary and subjective this way. You keep the amount of districts based on population, but you'd divide the districts evenly. For instance, in the case of New Mexico, you'd cut the state in three equal divisions, one for each house seat. Do it with lines going either east-west, or north-south. Straight, parallel lines.

Seeing these lines the way they are formulated makes you believe that you are essentially living in a fake democracy.

And mind you, I am not a Democrat, but I am in favor of freedom of choice for elected officials. This is the Texas example:


To me, this complete bullshale.

[EnjoyEP]

In regard to my opinion to the original poster:

I think Albuquerque is a pretty moderate city. You'll find a good mix of very liberal areas (around UNM and Nob Hill - kind of the college town liberal stuff - the North Valley and more ritzy homes around UNM and Downtown - the more rich, academic liberal types, etc.) But then there are some fairly conservative areas in many parts of the NE Heights and the Northwest/West Side.

While it is true that the Hispanic vote goes heavily Democratic often and the college factor goes heavily liberal, let us not forget that the Lab (Sandia National Lab) and the Base (Kirtland Airforce Base) are heavily critical to the city of ABQ and have tons of people affiliated professionally with both, and those folks tend to be very conservative politically.

Also, there are alot of contractors, etc., for the government (Boeing SVS is an example) where many employees are conservative.

So, while I believe there are percentage-points wise a decent amount more of Democrats in Albuquerque than Republicans, there are a good chunk of both. And while yes, any votes from a liberal tend to usually fall in the same column (whether for San Francisco, Iowa, Wisconsin, or Boulder CO), I think one big difference between many liberals nationwide and those in Albuquerque are that the liberals that Albuquerque Democrats support are not alike. As stated, one huge group of Albuquerque liberals is Hispanics, who while often skew Democratic, are very socially conservative often (eg: against abortion, against gay marriage, very pro traditional family values, etc.) So while they may support Democrats, they'll typically not be the extremely socially liberal Democrats that people in other regions support.

I guess overall, this means that you have a great chance of seeing all sorts of politicians being supported in Albuquerque. I think there is a huge representation of conservatives as well as liberals in ABQ.

[Towanda]

Originally Posted by GregW

Have they done the same with the Senate districts?

No. Senate positions are statewide offices. There are no districts in Senatorial elections.

The two senators in each state run for election in the whole state, and serve the whole state.

[Six Foot Three]

Originally Posted by Chowhound

I've spent a little time reading some of the posting trying to get a feel if ABQ is conservative or liberal. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

A slight lean towards liberal but not by much. Our Congressperson is a MODERATE Republican (Wilson). Our Mayor is a CONSERVATIVE Democrat (Chavez). The city Council is 5 Democrats and 4 Republicans yet Democrat Ken Sanchez sides with the Republicans alot and 4 Democrats elected Councilman Brad Winter a Republican to Council President. The Bernalillo County Commission are 3 Democrats and 2 Republicans and yet reciently Democrat Alan Armijo sided with the 2 Republicans to give Suncal approval of TIDDS (For major westside developement tax credits). The Legislators from Bernalillo to the State Senate are 7 Republicans and 8 Democrats and to the State House are 10 Republicans and 14 Democrats.

Mainly in the middle Republicans or Democrats are Usually the winner(s) in the ABQ wide races.

Sidenote:Steve Pearce represents a large portion of Valencia Co. as i always hear him on radio ads about Town Hall meetings in Los Lunas so Valencia Co. has very little influence on our Congressperson.

[Towanda]

6 FOOT 3:

Thanks for your assessment of Rep. Heather Wilson. Since I am not a resident of New Mexico (yet ) all I have to go by are news sites. The American Conservative Union gives Wilson a lifetime rating of 80, which, on a scale of 1-100 is very conservative.

Maybe the reality in her district paints a very different picture.