[EddieOlSkool]

Hi all,

Are Republicans on the West Side of the state more socially conservative (i.e. pro-life, pro "traditional" marriage, etc.) than Repubs on the East Side? Would it be fair to say that East Michigan Republicans are more fiscally conservative and more socially liberal? I know that the East Side is more Democrat, anyway, which maybe affects the culture more. That and the East Side is not very Dutch.

Thoughts?

[zthatzmanz28]

Any where outside the Detroit, Flint, and Saginaw areas the Republican guard will be more aligned to Tea PArty ultra conservative ideologies. Guess they want Michigan to be like Mississippi?

[mjlo]

Conversely a lot of the Michigan east side Democrats tend to be labor liberals and also a little bit conservative on social issues, where the west side liberals tend to be social liberals.

[animatedmartian]

Originally Posted by mjlo

Conversely a lot of the Michigan east side Democrats tend to be labor liberals and also a little bit conservative on social issues, where the west side liberals tend to be social liberals.

I think social liberals start as soon as you get to Ann Arbor. Plus cities like Royal Oak and Ferndale are becoming increasingly more social liberal due to their influx of younger generations.

[Arthur Digby Sellers]

I don't think its a hard and fast rule. You can find hardcore social conservatives in SE Michigan, just like you can find hardcore libertarians (i.e. Justin Amash) in W Michigan. It ebbs and flows.

[4DM1N]

I think SE MI is generally blue collar conservative. They are more pro-labor, but more socially conservative as well.

As for Western MI, I'd say it's probably more pro-business, but also socially conservative.

MI is generally a socially conservative state IMO, where there are small pockets of socially liberal populations (A^2, Traverse City, Ferndale/Royal Oak, East Lansing, Kzoo). Detroit, for being such a major city, is still very socially conservative IMO as well.

[mjlo]

Grand Rapids the city itself is blue, it's suburb East Grand Rapids is also more socially liberal. It's other suburbs tend to more reflect the conservative stigma the area is trying to shake. It's western suburbs/ Ottawa County is generally considered the most conservative county in the state. ( insert Dutch CRC joke here). I will say when I moved there I expected something far more intolerant based on what I had heard. So after experiencing GR I find it painful when people insist on keeping those stereotypes alive.

[detwahDJ]

Concerning the OP, a republican is just a member of the Republican Party and therefore supports the party platform and current agenda which is basically profit-driven privatization of everything, whether traditional business-friendly "conservative", libertarian, or teabagger - meaning all regulation and government controls off of businesses. In that light, they are all the same.
The Tea Party started out differently until they became financed by, and beholden to, oil billionaires (a fact which they now hide from the public).

Now "socially conservative" is a different matter.

[EddieOlSkool]

Originally Posted by detwahDJ

Concerning the OP, a republican is just a member of the Republican Party and therefore supports the party platform and current agenda which is basically profit-driven privatization of everything, whether traditional business-friendly "conservative", libertarian, or teabagger - meaning all regulation and government controls off of businesses. In that light, they are all the same.
The Tea Party started out differently until they became financed by, and beholden to, oil billionaires (a fact which they now hide from the public).

Now "socially conservative" is a different matter.

So is the East Side less Tea Party/hardcore religious than the West?

For the person that said GR is blue, where do you get your information? I know here on city data, county level voter statistics are listed, but not city level. Other similar sites (which I won't name as they are competitor sites) also list county level voter info and never at the city level.

[EddieOlSkool]

Originally Posted by animatedmartian

I think social liberals start as soon as you get to Ann Arbor. Plus cities like Royal Oak and Ferndale are becoming increasingly more social liberal due to their influx of younger generations.

That and the fact that they are generally less White than their Western Michigan counterparts.