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I dont mind people having their opinions, but I dont take anything seriously unless there has been at least an attempt at a diagnostic method. I can say all day that one city is liberal and one is conservative, but without some sort of relative study, its meaningless.
This is all just opinion, with much of it based on nothing but false perceptions and stereotypes. I would be that there are few people here qualified to rank these cities on anything, much less something as vague as this.
Dallas, Houston and Atlanta are conservative because they're located in the south.
NYC, LA, SF and Boston arel liberal because they're located in the North and West.
That's the logic here.
I'm trying to figure out on what universe is Detroit liberal.
A couple of years ago I read something about a study ranking Detroit among the "most liberal" cities. I don't remember for sure, but Detroit might have been number one. However, that study appeared to be based on a simple matter of party affiliation. Detroit ranked high among "most liberal" cities simply because a high percentage of its people are Democrats. On that basis, I guess Detroit would rank well to the left, but of course this is a flawed basis for this kind of ranking, since the major parties have people of varying political stripes. In many cases, party affiliation seems to be more a matter of family traditon than political leanings.
1. Atlanta
2. Dallas
3. Houston
4. Phoenix
5. Detroit
6. Philadelphia
7. DC
8. Los Angeles
9. Chicago
10. Miami
11. Minneapolis
12. NYC
13. Boston
14. Seattle
15. San Francisco
I must admit I'm not sure I thought or think of any of those as socially conservative. Maybe Phoenix would come closest, particularly if we're meaning the entire metro as I believe they do have some pretty socially conservative suburbs.
Cincinnati might be the closest thing to socially conservative metro among the top 25 metros I've seen. It's voted in Pro-Life Democrats and I tend to think if the Democrats of a place go with Pro-Life/Anti-Choice people it's probably at least moderately socially conservative. Although I imagine a Cincinnatian will tell me I'm way off.
Among metros in general I think I've read that Provo-Orem, Oklahoma City, Fargo, Knoxville, Colorado Springs, Sioux City, and Amarillo are socially conservative at least to some extent. To get larger Jacksonville, Florida tends to come out pretty Republican in general so probably socially conservative.
A couple of years ago I read something about a study ranking Detroit among the "most liberal" cities. I don't remember for sure, but Detroit might have been number one. However, that study appeared to be based on a simple matter of party affiliation. Detroit ranked high among "most liberal" cities simply because a high percentage of its people are Democrats. On that basis, I guess Detroit would rank well to the left, but of course this is a flawed basis for this kind of ranking, since the major parties have people of varying political stripes. In many cases, party affiliation seems to be more a matter of family traditon than political leanings.
Metro Detroit votes democrat for two reasons. The core city is black and democratic in nature, and the rest of metro Detroit supports labor unions. These facts make the Detroit area democratic, but it does not make them liberal. Metro Detroit is HIGHLY segregated by race, the car is king, and liberal causes like gay marriage get very little support. In fact Michigan has a very tough anti gay marriage amendment passed by 70% of Mi population. No progressive would ever call metro Detroit liberal. Michigan is very populist and distrustful of corporations and goverment. The state is still supportive of unions as well. This applies in metro Detroit as well as the state of Michigan as a whole. Michigan is a tough state to call politically. Its the ultimate swing state, in 08 the state gave its support to Obama but then in 10 the people gave control of the state goverment to the repbulicans by a huge majority.
The thing is I consider myself Pro-Life/Anti-Choice. I find claiming a slur can perplex people and in a way I think the term "Anti-Choice" has some merits. Pretty much all law is based in limiting some choices. I'm Anti-Choice on contract killing as well. I'm Anti-Choice on some other things involving one's body too. For example I'm against legalizing heroin, euthanasia, and prostitution. I don't believe in the idea that a person can do whatever they want with the things in or on their body and more importantly I think almost no one really believes that. If they did people would support the right to have voluntary castration or elective amputation even if the person has no medical or psychological need for those. That even a second-trimester "fetus" has less protection than a toe or a testicle is ridiculous to me.
Anyway I may have done this, but I guess one way to check the social conservatism of urban areas is to see how their county voted on state Amendments referring to abortion and same-sex marriage.
For example Duval County (Home of Jacksonville) gave 67% support for parental notification on abortion and 69% for Florida Amendment 2 against same-sex marriage.
Kern County, California (Bakersfield) gave 75% support to Proposition 8 against SSM and 65% on a failed measure for parental notification on abortion. Kern also opposed funding embryonic stem-cell research.
Miami-Dade gave 63% support for a parental notification law on abortion in 2004 and 58% support for not recognizing same-sex marriage in 2008. Possibly suburbs had some to do with this, I'm not sure.
However Harris County (Houston) gave a whopping 72% in favor of Prop 2 denying Same sex marriage legal status. Then six years later they have a lesbian mayor. Granted much of that 72% might be suburbanites, but I think to get to 72% you would need some support in the city itself. I don't know how they voted on abortion issues as I don't find any initiatives in Texas relevant to that.
Metro Detroit votes democrat for two reasons. The core city is black and democratic in nature, and the rest of metro Detroit supports labor unions. These facts make the Detroit area democratic, but it does not make them liberal. Metro Detroit is HIGHLY segregated by race, the car is king, and liberal causes like gay marriage get very little support. In fact Michigan has a very tough anti gay marriage amendment passed by 70% of Mi population.
That's a good point. That amendment also appears to have won in Wayne County itself by 55% Yes to it to 45% No. I considered putting it among the "socially conservative on the OP list" in my last post.
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This is all just opinion, with much of it based on nothing but false perceptions and stereotypes. I would be that there are few people here qualified to rank these cities on anything, much less something as vague as this.
Re Detroit ranked as "liberal"
