Does Pennsylvania have more in common with New York or Maryland?

[Duderino]

Originally Posted by the resident09

Totally agree, in fact growing up I always felt non-PHI metro PA had more in common with Virginia than it even does with the majority of Maryland, which is uber liberal. I still currently believe this is true.

Much like basically every state in the US, the larger urban areas tend to be more liberal, whereas more rural areas tend to be more conservative. Even though Maryland has a high concentration of more liberal/Democratic voters in places like Baltimore and Montgomery/Prince George's Counties, the majority of the rest of the state is certainly not uber-liberal.

The same can be said for states like California outside of the coastal areas, Illinois outside of Chicago and New York outside of downstate/NY metro. Like Maryland, it's a matter of how the population is distributed that makes these states have more of a liberal/Democratic tilt.

[Craziaskowboi]

Originally Posted by kidphilly

PA outside of the eastern and some parts around Pittsburgh is very conservative, agree

No, not really. Rural Pennsylvania is not nearly as conservative as its reputation.

Here's a map illustrating support for gay marriage by county, with light green to red indicating more support than opposition, light blue to purple indicating more opposition than support, and medium green indicating equal support and opposition:



Notice how every county in Pennsylvania except Bedford, Jefferson, Perry and Sullivan is medium green to red, indicating support for gay marriage that's equal to or greater than the opposition. Notice also the widespread blue with pockets of purple across the Deep South, versus the prevailing medium green to orange in Pennsylvania outside of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. Rural Pennsylvania is significantly more open to gay marriage than the Deep South.

Here's a map illustrating marijuana legalization support by county, with light green to red indicating more support than opposition, light blue to purple indicating more opposition than support, and medium green indicating equal support and opposition:



Notice how every county in Pennsylvania except Bedford, Clinton and McKean is medium green to red, indicating support for marijuana legalization that's equal to or greater than the opposition. Notice also the large pockets of blue with traces of purple across the Deep South, versus the prevailing medium green to orange in Pennsylvania outside of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. Rural Pennsylvania is somewhat more open to marijuana legalization than the Deep South.

Here's a map illustrating people's stance on abortion rights by county, with light blue to purple indicating more support than opposition ("pro-choice"), light green to red indicating more opposition than support ("pro-life"), and medium green indicating equal support and opposition:



Notice how every county in Pennsylvania except Bedford, Clinton and Sullivan is medium green to purple, indicating support for abortion rights that's equal to or greater than the opposition. Notice also the large pockets of yellow and orange with traces of red across the Deep South, versus the prevailing medium green to light blue in Pennsylvania outside of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. Rural Pennsylvania is significantly more open to abortion rights than the Deep South.

Plain and simple, rural Pennsylvania being more conservative than New England or the megalopolis doesn't necessarily mean that it's conservative overall. It just means it's more conservative than the most liberal region of the country. Just because a Dodge Viper is slower than a Bugatti Veyron doesn't necessarily mean that it's slow. It just means it's slower than the fastest street-legal car on the planet. Pennsylvania outside of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh is significantly more in favor of gay marriage and abortion rights than the Deep South, and somewhat more in favor of marijuana legalization, which makes it more liberal than the Deep South, regardless of what some lizard-looking political pundit said a generation ago.

[LINative]

Interesting maps Craziaskowobi. The funny thing is that your maps actually show Pennsylvania as being moderate. Its the rest of the Northeast and the Deep South that are at the two opposite extremes (liberal and conservative).

It must be nice to live in a state where people do not blindly vote for one party.

[JerseyGirl415]

Originally Posted by LINative

Interesting maps Craziaskowobi. The funny thing is that your maps actually show Pennsylvania as being moderate. Its the rest of the Northeast and the Deep South that are at the two opposite extremes (liberal and conservative).

It must be nice to live in a state where people do not blindly vote for one party.

Yeah, it's not as if Pennsylvania isn't conservative so therefore it must be liberal - it's really neither. Compared to the rest of the Northeast it's still rather conservative considering the extremes you see in that map. But upstate NY is also a bit more moderate, not to the same level as PA but it's visibly different than the rest of NY and most of the rest of the Northeast. For the most part, MD outside DC area looks pretty moderate as well. New England is really where you see the most solid sway to the one side, unsurprisingly.

[cwa1984]

Originally Posted by LINative

Interesting maps Craziaskowobi. The funny thing is that your maps actually show Pennsylvania as being moderate. Its the rest of the Northeast and the Deep South that are at the two opposite extremes (liberal and conservative).

It must be nice to live in a state where people do not blindly vote for one party.

If your to extreme either way you will get voted out of office in PA. That's the reason why Rick Santorum was a one term Senator. If someone like Bernie Sanders got elected as a Senator in PA they would also be a one term Senator.

[kidphilly]

Originally Posted by cwa1984

If your to extreme either way you will get voted out of office in PA. That's the reason why Rick Santorum was a one term Senator. If someone like Bernie Sanders got elected as a Senator in PA they would also be a one term Senator.

Yeah Spector was an interesting senator that played well to both sides and moderates

Wish we had more spectors in congress today