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For years (on this forum and in real life) I have heard people refer to both Boise and Ada county as some sort of blue bastion surrounded by a sea of red. A liberal utopia untouched by the hands of the GOP.
I know that Meridian, Kuna, Star, etc. probably account for a good chunk of the Trump vote, but I guess I'm failing to see where the "liberal/democratic holdout" is supposed to be? According to the most recent census data, Boise (214,000) makes up over half of Ada county (416,000).
In my experience here on this site as well as while I'm out and about, people often refer to Boise's liberalism in the same breath as that of Portland/Seattle.
Is Boise's liberal prowess overblown?
(And please, spare me the "Lots of people just didn't want to vote for Hillary" because of perceived corruption stuff either. True democrats/liberals voted for her anyway)
To break it down to you, downtown Boise is very, very liberal, literally a mini Denver/Portland/San Francisco kind of hybrid. However, outside of downtown Boise, the city is pretty mixed red/blue. Ada county itself is very red-blooded and probably one of the most conservative counties in the country if you removed Boise. Downtown Boise, itself, could even be more liberal than Portland, because people go out of their way to prove they're liberal.. For example, I rarely will see male baristas wearing pink fairy dresses in the very liberal and somewhat flamboyant Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle. However, at some of the uber-liberal coffeeshops in Boise, they are proving a point and this is a common sight. It forms a very strange paradox when you are in these liberal parts of Boise, which does seem to be like a little island and state of its own that has an expanse of like 5-7 square miles or so.
Most of the Treasure Valley is very conservative, Christian and right-wing. The only thing that may skew the numbers is the liberal/urban/hipster/new age population in the downtown/North End area of Boise and the Hispanic populations in Nampa and Caldwell, which primarily vote Democrat.
I live in Ada county, in the city of Meridian and I am one of those Trump voters you probably are loathing
Last edited by RotseCherut; 11-09-2016 at 06:19 PM..
To break it down to you, downtown Boise is very, very liberal, literally a mini Denver/Portland kind of hybrid. However, outside of downtown Boise, the city is pretty mixed red/blue. Ada county itself is very red-blooded and probably one of the most conservative counties in the country if you removed Boise.
Most of the Treasure Valley is very conservative, Christian and right-wing. The only thing that may skew the numbers is the liberal/urban/hipster/new age population in the downtown/North End area and the Hispanic populations in Nampa and Caldwell, which primarily vote Democrat.
I live in Ada county, in the city of Meridian and I am one of those Trump voters you probably are loathing
Thanks for the reply. That explanation makes sense. So the liberalism is pretty centralized rather than equally distributed throughout the city.
And I certainly don't loathe Trump supporters... I'm pretty in the middle politically. To each his own!
This map sums up Ada County. Obama got close to 50% in 2008 so it isn't always quite so red, but it is a red lean for sure. The comments above about Portland are total nonsense - in no way, shape or form is any part of Boise as liberal as Portland.
This was a weird year with two widely unpopular candidates. Once it boiled down to those two dolts I knew I'd come out of the election unhappy.
That person who has said he doesn't get out much and dislikes liberals is making it sound like he frequents the coffee counter culture and knows it all about the scene in Portland and Seattle and even Boise. Boise isn't trying to be like anywhere else or proving a point, Boise is Boise, just like Portland is Portland, etc. It is obvious that someone here isn't in touch with Boise and wastes too much time on being cynical.
That comment about Ada County being one of the most conservative counties in the nation is also an out of touch opinion.
Boise still has a Democratic Mayor and city council and Dems are still repping districts in the city.
This election was a mess, many Dems weren't into Hillary and I know of some who didn't vote for her.
So, in some respects, yes Boise is an island.
One thing I remember from living in Boise and I need to give the Democrats credit is that they are very good at organizing get out the vote campaigns for their candidates. I used to live in west Boise and never recalled seeing campaign signs for mayor or city council. Drive downtown and once you hit about Orchard there would be signs everywhere. Plus friends that lived in the North End or the Bench told me that multiple people would put flyers on their doors, knock on their door to engage them and so on. In west Boise elections for mayor and city council seemed to go unnoticed in my opinion, based on what I saw in my part of town. If there was an opportunity to win a seat the Democrats knew where to put forth effort.
Ada County as a whole is conservative, just not as red as the rest of the state. Boise is liberal for Idaho, but still generally moderate. Downtown, Northend, and Eastend and a few pockets on the Bench are the only true blue islands and the rest of Boise generally follows Ada County and leans right.
Ada County as a whole is conservative, just not as red as the rest of the state. Boise is liberal for Idaho, but still generally moderate. Downtown, Northend, and Eastend and a few pockets on the Bench are the only true blue islands and the rest of Boise generally follows Ada County and leans right.
And those neighborhoods generally define Boise.
Quote:
Originally Posted by T M H
"Ada county itself is very red-blooded and probably one of the most conservative counties in the country if you removed Boise." This is pure fiction.
Madison county is the most conservative county in Idaho, and in 2012 the second most in the country. This is fact.
This article is telling because many people I know in Boise who are Republican/Conservatives are still rather moderate.
I have always had this opinion of the Boise area, it seems to be moderate and balanced out in some respects and not too far either one way or the other. Portland is a mess because it is so extreme.
I would tend to agree as well. Boise was conservative, but more in a libertarian, non-religious kind of way when I lived there. Other than my Mormon neighbors, not too many other people on my block were attending church on Sunday.
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