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In my view, Massachusetts and much of New England is liberal when it comes to political matters. Residents however are for the most part not very liberal when it comes to how they live their own personal lives. They lead a rather conservative lifestyle. Divorce rates are low. Family is important. Not flashy and display of wealth is considered vulgar. Probably flinty compared to people in other parts of the country. Very much traditional.
New Englanders are ok with people living their lives as they personally see fit. If someone wants to lead a life that many would deem different than the norm, they have no issue in letting them do so. New Englanders however as a whole choose very much to live their own life to the norm. Likely to do so, in bigger numbers, than many other parts of the US.
Divorce rates are much higher in conservative states in general though. This isn't a uniquely New England thing.
Now, part of this is arguably because in states were premarital sex is still frowned upon, people are more apt to do serial monogamy via marriage rather than cohabitation. But even accounting for this doesn't fully explain it.
Flashy displays of money are something I associate with conservatives. Rich people - all things considered - tend to be conservative, and if you're a rich liberal you're more likely to feel guilt about being rich than flaunt it.
I don't think New England is a very family centered place compared to say the South or the Midwest, but it is moreso than the West or transplant-heavy areas.
In my view, Massachusetts and much of New England is liberal when it comes to political matters. Residents however are for the most part not very liberal when it comes to how they live their own personal lives. They lead a rather conservative lifestyle. Divorce rates are low. Family is important. Not flashy and display of wealth is considered vulgar. Probably flinty compared to people in other parts of the country. Very much traditional.
New Englanders are ok with people living their lives as they personally see fit. If someone wants to lead a life that many would deem different than the norm, they have no issue in letting them do so. New Englanders however as a whole choose very much to live their own life to the norm. Likely to do so, in bigger numbers, than many other parts of the US.
That is because voting for the Democrats does not necessarily mean you are liberal and vice versa with the Republicans and conservatives. People vote for these parties for a variety of reasons.
I went through the various Presidential elections since WW2 and most of the time northern New England voted Republican. Here is the 1960 election for example when JF Kennedy of Massachusetts was running against Nixon of California. Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine went for Nixon!
So did these northern New England states suddenly become liberals? Or is this as I believe party politics with union voters and retired government employees moving to northern New England and voting for the Democrats.
That is because voting for the Democrats does not necessarily mean you are liberal and vice versa with the Republicans and conservatives. People vote for these parties for a variety of reasons.
I went through the various Presidential elections since WW2 and most of the time northern New England voted Republican. Here is the 1960 election for example when JF Kennedy of Massachusetts was running against Nixon of California. Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine went for Nixon!
So did these northern New England states suddenly become liberals? Or is this as I believe party politics with union voters and retired government employees moving to northern New England and voting for the Democrats.
As late as 1996 LA and TN voted for a Democrat. Al Gore was lambasted for losing Tenneseee in 2000! Today that would be absolutely absurd. No NewEngland state voted for a Republican since 2000.
A lot has changed in the 30 years since 1988 let alone since 1960. Before 1990 he parties were a lot less ideologically driven but since the collapse of the New Deal Coalition in 1968 American politics was very amorphous.
In my view, Massachusetts and much of New England is liberal when it comes to political matters. Residents however are for the most part not very liberal when it comes to how they live their own personal lives. They lead a rather conservative lifestyle. Divorce rates are low. Family is important. Not flashy and display of wealth is considered vulgar. Probably flinty compared to people in other parts of the country. Very much traditional.
New Englanders are ok with people living their lives as they personally see fit. If someone wants to lead a life that many would deem different than the norm, they have no issue in letting them do so. New Englanders however as a whole choose very much to live their own life to the norm. Likely to do so, in bigger numbers, than many other parts of the US.
As a New England native I agree with this. Politics aside, New England is very traditional in terms of how people live. I live in western Washington now which is also liberal but it’s much different than New England in terms of how people act and go about there daily lives. The people and things I see out here on a day to day basis would raise eyebrows back in New England but here it’s just how it is and nothing strange about it. That said, it’s been some years since I’ve been there so maybe it’s changed a bit.
Honestly, I doubt anyone thinks about it..unless you live in NE. I mean, OP, think about it. Do you care that the Midwest is really quite different...not just one region, but, really two? Probably not. I don't know anyone who sits around and thinks about New England, just as you don't know anyone who sits around and thinks about the Midwest, and it's two distinct regions.
At a base level I know the Midwest is really really different from state to state. New England is the only Region with a team and that’s not up for debate or ambiguous, so I think people think it’s basically a state.
Whereas I’ve never been to the Midwest but I know Ohio and Minnesota are nothing alike. Ik Missouri and Nebraska are very different as well.
People outside of New England think Maine and Connecticut are super similar but they’re just not.
Rural New England is much more liberal and democratic than any rural areas outside Northern MN near Duluth.
Parts of rural Colorado and most of New Mexico are "liberal".
Quote:
Originally Posted by bjimmy24
I really don't think MA is all that "liberal" in daily life either. I've thought MA is probably the most conservative liberal state out there.
I don't know about that, but it's very "traditional". We have some extended fam in MA and they have more traditional ideas than the Coloradans.
Quote:
Originally Posted by eschaton
Divorce rates are much higher in conservative states in general though. This isn't a uniquely New England thing.
Now, part of this is arguably because in states were premarital sex is still frowned upon, people are more apt to do serial monogamy via marriage rather than cohabitation. But even accounting for this doesn't fully explain it.
Flashy displays of money are something I associate with conservatives. Rich people - all things considered - tend to be conservative, and if you're a rich liberal you're more likely to feel guilt about being rich than flaunt it.
I don't think New England is a very family centered place compared to say the South or the Midwest, but it is moreso than the West or transplant-heavy areas.
The premarital sex thing doesn't fully explain the divorce rates because there is nowhere in the US that I have lived or visited extensively that "frowns upon" premarital sex between adults, particularly those who are over about 20. It's an expectation in a long term relationship. I see Colorado's divorce rate is higher end, though I personally don't know a lot of people who've been divorced, but CO is very libertarian which probably explains some of it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by btownboss4
As late as 1996 LA and TN voted for a Democrat. Al Gore was lambasted for losing Tenneseee in 2000! Today that would be absolutely absurd. No NewEngland state voted for a Republican since 2000.
A lot has changed in the 30 years since 1988 let alone since 1960. Before 1990 he parties were a lot less ideologically driven but since the collapse of the New Deal Coalition in 1968 American politics was very amorphous.
Why do people focus so much on the presidential elections and not on local politics? No NewEngland state voted for a Republican since 2000? Hasn't MA had several Republican governors and senators? The current MA governor is a Republican. The governor of Maine is a Republican, and Maine has one Republican senator. The governor of NH is a Repub, as is the governor of Vermont. The only NE state with a Democratic governor is Rhode Island. I don't feel like looking up all the senators right now.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BostonBornMassMade
At a base level I know the Midwest is really really different from state to state. New England is the only Region with a team and that’s not up for debate or ambiguous, so I think people think it’s basically a state.
Whereas I’ve never been to the Midwest but I know Ohio and Minnesota are nothing alike. Ik Missouri and Nebraska are very different as well.
People outside of New England think Maine and Connecticut are super similar but they’re just not.
You don't know what you don't know about the Midwest.
The only NE state with a Democratic governor is Rhode Island. I don't feel like looking up all the senators right now..
Just to clarify: Connecticut also has a Democratic governor.
Edit: Also (and I had to look up 2 of them, because I didn’t know their policies and history) Baker, Sununu, and Scott would be considered pretty darn liberal if running for positions in other parts of the country. LePage is a different story. However he’s also one of the most unpopular governors in the country, so I’m not sure that his particular brand of Republicanism is a good representation of Maine’s people.
Last edited by Boston Shudra; 10-30-2018 at 07:46 AM..
So did these northern New England states suddenly become liberals? Or is this as I believe party politics with union voters and retired government employees moving to northern New England and voting for the Democrats.
They didn't leave the GOP, the GOP left them.
The way that party politics used to work in New England was it was broadly speaking confessional based upon religion. if you were a protestant, you were a Republican. If you were Catholic, you were a Democrat. The two parties did not really have very big differences in terms of social ideology though. New England Republicans actually tended to be a bit more socially liberal than New England Democrats - mostly on issues like contraception, abortion, etc. On economics, Democrats were a bit more left leaning, because their base was more heavily unionized.
As the national GOP became more stridently conservative, and religion became less important in general, New England realigned to a great degree. The socially liberal and moderate people who voted for Republicans just became Democrats. The 1990 Massachusetts gubernatorial election was pretty much the last gasp of the old coalition, where Republican Bill Weld (a pro-choice, anti-gun GOPer) ran against John Silber (an anti-gay, anti-welfare Democrat who compared Gloria Steinem to a white supremacist).
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