Why did Illinois Gradually Become Less Blue? (Chicago, Cicero: homes, neighborhood)

[green apple]

I am not looking for conversation about Donald Trump. This question is about conservatism/republicanism generally.

I was looking at maps and election results to see which areas in Chicago had voted for Trump. This led me to comparisons of the previous election cycles. Not only did Hillary outperform all of the other democrats in previous elections (excepting Barack Obama), the entire state of Illinois gradually shifted from blue-ish to very hardy red.



We all know that Chicago is what carries Illinois as being a blue state, but apparently this did not used to be the case.

Anyone have any idea what happened over the last decade?

****The wards in Chicago with heavy concentrations of Trump voters were the Portage Park area, the area near O'Hare airport, the area near Midway airport, the Archer/Cicero area, the orthodox neighborhood near Touhy and Western, and the Beverly/Mt. Greenwood area.

MOD COMMENT 12/06/16: People, please remember that this thread is about Illinois. Please keep your posts pertinent to the State of Illinois. If you wish to discuss national politics, please do so in the Politics forum. Thanks.

[NealIRC]

I think the answer is people whom are Democrat were not going to be "Oh I'm Democrat so I'm going to vote whoever's Democrat" and vice versa.

So the answer is why did people vote the individuals particularly.

Originally Posted by green apple

****The wards in Chicago with heavy concentrations of Trump voters were the Portage Park area, the area near O'Hare airport, the area near Midway airport, the Archer/Cicero area, the orthodox neighborhood near Touhy and Western, and the Beverly/Mt. Greenwood area.

Oooooooooohh. Good stuff.

[MSchemist80]

Living here and watching the absolute t@rds that are Illinois Democrats run this state to financial ruin and inflict misery on taxpayers and businesses have made me more and more staunch Republican. The Dems have turned govt in this state into a serious quality of life issue as they seem to be under the philosophy that the people here exist to serve the govt rather than the govt serve the people. As long as that continues expect them to keep losing ground nationally and locally except in Cook Co and other heavily urban environments.

[MSchemist80]

Also the people in Illinois outside of Chicago absolutely hate what the politicians from Chicago are doing.

[IrishIllini]

Originally Posted by MSchemist80

Also the people in Illinois outside of Chicago absolutely hate what the politicians from Chicago are doing.

Everyone who isn't in or related to someone in a public union hates what the politicians are doing. Too bad most of them don't vote.

[green apple]

Originally Posted by MSchemist80

Also the people in Illinois outside of Chicago absolutely hate what the politicians from Chicago are doing.

People in the rest of Illinois are that preoccupied with what happens in Chicago? I'm not being sarcastic, I really just don't have a frame of reference for what it's like to live in Illinois but not Chicago.

Also, even if they do, why would that translate into staunch republicanism?

[NealIRC]

What MSchemist80 said could be even more true for people outside of Cook County.

[Tex?Il?]

Because as late as up to the not too distant past, the Democrats were known far and wide as being the party for the working man. (It was also the party of racism/segregation/Jim Crow, etc. - put that's a whole other story). Even as late as the 90s, older socially conservative men in the 70s (now mostly past on, a few still in nursing homes in their 90s), who grew up during the New Deal/FDR/Depression era were die hard Democrats to the day they died, even if they were a product from a much more old fashioned time.

but over time (within my lifetime) crescendoing and culminating into the most recent election, the Democrats quickly evolved into a party that appealed to a distinctly urban culture: Progressive highly educated white that moved to exciting urban areas for career and culture, and poorer minorities that have been told that only the Democrats can save them from racist and xenophobic conservatives.


In case that sounded a little ranty, Basically in our urban-focused culture we have today, blue collared rural white people have been left behind and overlooked, whereas white, progressive professionals and minorities in cities vote Democrat. As late as the Clinton years, working class struggling people of ALL RACES, rural AND urban voted Democrat.

[MSchemist80]

Originally Posted by green apple

People in the rest of Illinois are that preoccupied with what happens in Chicago? I'm not being sarcastic, I really just don't have a frame of reference for what it's like to live in Illinois but not Chicago.

Also, even if they do, why would that translate into staunch republicanism?

The state govt is dominated by Democrats most of whom are from Chicago and whom only care about Chicago and govern in a way that is damaging to everyone especially people outside of the Chicago area ie out of control taxes.

[Tex?Il?]

Find it funny how those upset with Trumps victory, are no going on about how inherently racist America is whereas 8 years Obama won nearly half of Illinois' counties! (Interesting to see in '96, DuPage county was more red than most rural downstate counties).

I am NO Trump fan. Lets get that straight. But people have to stop being lazy, and say this is all about race, and its about how racist America really is, etc, etc. (Look people: People want change, regardless of who that candidate is: whoever can deliver that promise of change in Washington, black or white, progressive or crass and rude is going to win over people).