Any Blue Areas of Rural America? (college, camping, taxes)

[bluecountry]

I really can't stand ugly suburban sprawl and would like to live in an area...in the east coast...that is rural (but not too far).
The problem I find...I don't want to be in area full of backwords thinking people who think the war on terror, to defend our freedom...means we should sacrifice our freedom to telecom or the environment to big oil.

Is there any places in the east coast which have the country setting but are not your typical Bush lovers?

[Chris19]

Although I am not from the east coast, one will find many red areas in the Midwest, but Minnesota, Iowa, and Missouri along with the Great Lakes region has some rural blue areas, but many of the Dems in Missouri, Iowa, and other parts of the Midwest are blue collar Democrats or blue-dog Dems.

I live in the Midwest and live in a Moderate area but there are plenty of people in my part of the country who have too conservative of political views in my opinion.

I have relatives who live in a rural area of Virginia becoming more or less a suburban sprawl area and they are conservative. I sometimes have to bite my lip and be reserved when politics are discussed on the phone or when we visit.

[radraja]

Massachusetts is the most liberal state in the union, I believe. So even rural areas there should be a safe bet. Or Vermont.

But in my experience, most rural towns in the midwest tend to be conservative. Occasionally moderate. But usually not liberal at all.

[Chris19]

This is true radraja. My area of the Midwest is politically moderate but a good chunk of SD is conservative (Republicans run 2/3rds of the State Legislature and tends to vote 2/3rd for the Republican presidential candidate). I normally vote in the minority there, but each to his/her own.

Massachussets and Vermont would be the better choices. The southern Atlantic states tend to be conservative. I am not sure about the mid-Atlantic states, but much of New England is liberal from my understanding).

[wickedripeplum]

Yeah, I think Vermont is the way to go.

[sav858]

Rural Northern CA between the Pacific Ocean and Central Valley has to have the best combination of being both very liberal and rural at the same time. So many hippies, pot heads, etc...all up in that area, many ex-hippies of the 60's in SF moved there. Probably the most lax marijuana laws in the country too. Weed runs the economy of that region.

[Verseau]

Pretty much anywhere in New England, especially Vermont and western Massachusetts. New Hampshire, Maine, and rural Connecticut tend to be a bit more moderate or libertarian, but you won't find the high concentration of social conservatives as in other rural areas of the country.

[j33]

I wouldn't be so quick to advise New Hampshire when looking for a rural 'blue area'

[OA 5599]

Even though an area may be "conservative", it does not mean every single person in that area voted for Bush in 2004 or totes guns around. I was raised by liberal parents in a county which went 70% for Bush in 2004, but 25% of the county did still vote for Kerry. Granted they are a minority, but they are there. I'm betting not every person you know in the urban area you live in right now is liberal.

Here is a results map of the 2004 Presidential election. You can look at individual counties in each state and get a good idea of which areas are predominantly blue or red: http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/pag...lts/president/

[Finger Laker]

i grew up in a place that always votes pretty conservative (although my mom and grandmother are registered dems) ........ fairly stereotypical to paint them all as backwoods types who don't care about the environment and just want to kill some Arabs

You will find that a lot of the conservatives there are more along the lines of smaller government, less taxes, less social programs - pretty much less interference on any level

they just want to live their lives, they tend to embrace the outdoors lifestyle and will fight to protect it

if you are looking for places that are more artsy than hunting/fishing/camping in rural then looks towards places that have more of a college town atmosphere - places like Ithaca come to mind