Liberal/Conservative - outskirts of NoVA vs West Maryland...(some results) (Leesburg: college, live in)

[Tiger Beer]

I was just looking at Presidential Elections for MD and VA...in the same vicinity...and VA seems to vote much more blue than MD. (Contrary to popular opinion).


Fredericksburg, VA - Fredericksburg City County - Obama 64%, 35% McCain
Leesburg, VA - Loudon County - Obama 54%, 46% McCain
Winchester, VA - Winchester County - 52% Obama, 47% McCain
Frederick, MD - Frederick County - 49% Obama, 50% McCain
Hagerstown, MD - Washington County - 43% Obama, 56% McCain

Any speculations that may account for that?

[Caladium]

One thing about Virginia--we are not that predictable when it comes to elections and have swung in both liberal and conservative directions, depending on the specific issues. Actually the rest of VA is relatively red, Nova does not have a set direction--we have a lot of people who vote here, so we often call the shots. We tend to consider candidates individually, and can sometimes make surprising choices if a particular candidate has an idea that appeals. It works to our advantage (swing states get courted).

What causes it? Probably Nova's diversity (not just racial but also political), which reaches out to the outskirts. It starts to become somewhat more predictably conservative west of Leesburg--but not always. People make a lot of assumptions about Virginia that because it is a southern state it must be more conservative. When it comes to finances, yes, but politics can be a different matter.

Also, we have quite a mix of residents moving here from all over the place. Not just from the north (as some assume) but a huge number from the west coast, the south, and all over. That's bound to influence politics.

ps. I see you've gotten a star! Congrats!

[ChristineVA]

In general, as you can see, Virginia runs red. Northern VA often swings the state and has the population to go "blue" in an election if NoVA runs that way. I think they call us a purple state...

[Margery]

It is Winchester City, not Winchester County. Winchester is an independent city within Frederick County, Va. Fredericksburg, Va is also an independent city, not a county.

[CAVA1990]

Probably a greater proportion of non-native Federal worker types live in those VA locations while higher proportions of locally born small business and working class folks live in the MD ones shown.

[Tiger Beer]

Originally Posted by Margery

It is Winchester City, not Winchester County. Winchester is an independent city within Frederick County, Va. Fredericksburg, Va is also an independent city, not a county.

That might explain it then. Those figures are from city-data.com's website. They used the name of the city plus the word city, plus the word county. Maybe some data entry formatting system they have than.

[Stephen 81]

Fredericksburg is more of a college town than the others. When you remove it from the mix, I'm not sure that the voting habits of the VA towns you mentioned are significantly different from the MD ones.

Leesburg is definitely more upscale than Winchester, Frederick or Hagerstown, though - perhaps that leads to different voting patterns as well.