Why are blue states richer than red states? (wages, salary, statistics)

[brentwoodgirl]

Let's take the poorest state, MS, and see how well the "red state" claim holds up:

Mississippi has had a Democratic Governor for 104 out of the last 119 years (1892-present).
Not so "red" after all, are they?

In addition, Republicans are significantly more likely to have college degrees:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republi...(United_States)

And Republicans as a whole have a higher median income:
http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1005/republicans-happier

So considering all of the facts, it looks like Mississippi has voted for a mix of Democrats and Republicans depending on the office. Republicans are more likely to have a college degree and have higher median incomes, so they are less likely to live in poverty.

This "red state" "blue state" thing has only been around since 2000, and many of those "red states" have had Democratic governors during that time.

[padcrasher]

Originally Posted by brentwoodgirl

I know Democrats love to try and tie voting conservative to being a poor state, and yet they ignore the fact that Southern "red" voting states have the highest percentage of African Americans & Hispanics in the country.

Mississippi, the poorest state, also has the highest % of African Americans at 38%. And it is abut 3% Hispanic. So more than 40% of Mississippi is made up of groups that have poverty rates well above average.

According to the National Poverty Center:
12% Whites live in poverty
35% African Americans live in poverty
33% of Hispanics live in poverty

So it's crazy to say that voting conservative makes a state poor, when there is proven coorelation between race & poverty and those states.

New Mexico is a poor state and it has voted for Democrats for President 3 of the last 4 elections.

Washington DC is very poor, and it voted Democratic the last 4 elections. It also has a very high African American population.

Contrastly- Virginia and Alaska have 2 of the highest median incomes in the country. Alaska voted Republican for president 4/4 times and VI 3/4 times in the last 4 elections.

It is completely disingenuous to say "conservative state" = poor state and ignore the stats that show poverty has a direct coorelation to race makeup.

Fine. Correct for racial demographics and you are still left with Oklahoma and West Virginia...plenty white and plenty poor. New Mexico has huge Hispanic/Indian population so that's why it's an outlier.

Almost across the board...a Blue white has more income the a Red white.

[Skinny Puppy]

I wonder how much of that is a legacy of "Reconstruction" and the Civil War. The South was left devasted.

[padcrasher]

Originally Posted by Skinny Puppy

I wonder how much of that is a legacy of "Reconstruction" and the Civil War. The South was left devasted.

I'd guess the IQ of the whites matter as well. Germans, Scandanvians, Ashkenazi Jews (mainly in the North/Northeast) have higher IQ's than Scotts-Irish who migrated South.

Sorry but that's the brutal truth.

[workingclasshero]

Originally Posted by padcrasher

uhm I'm a Texan.

We are talking about general characteristics of Blue v Red States...

Try to keep up.

and yet you have FAILED to exactly DEFINE red/blue

I gave an example of north carolina..it has been a DEMOCRAT STRONGHOLD (at the state level) for the last 100 years,,,yet in the 96,00, and 04 POTUS elections it voted republican...and in the 08 it was with obama

so again DEFINE it...was NC a dumb poor redstate from 96-07 but is now a smart rich blue state......

you MUST DEFINE...without a true defination, you have no arguement



btw

new york (a supposed blue state) ranks number 6 as far as getting the MOST federal aid per capita

State Rankings--Statistical Abstract of the United States--Federal Aid to State and Local Governments

1 most...50 least

1 Wyoming
2 Arizona
3 Louisiana
4 Mississippi
5 Vermont
6 New York
7 New Mexico
8 North Dakota
9 Rhode Island
10 West Virginia
11 Maine
12 Montana
13 Massachusetts

so in the top 13 of """FEDERAL AID TO STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS PER CAPITA"""" ...very blue vermont, newyork, mass, maine, and rhode island..all in the top 13 of MOST federal aid per capita

[Had2SaySumthin]

I use this argument all the time to PO the conservatives.

The truth?

The money in those blue states comes from, you guessed it, conservative led corporations. Their employees (slaves) also live there, and that's where the blue comes from.

That's why the blue states also have the biggest ghettos.

[padcrasher]

Originally Posted by workingclasshero

and yet you have FAILED to exactly DEFINE red/blue

I gave an example of north carolina..it has been a DEMOCRAT STRONGHOLD (at the state level) for the last 100 years,,,yet in the 96,00, and 04 POTUS elections it voted republican...and in the 08 it was with obama

so again DEFINE it...was NC a dumb poor redstate from 96-07 but is now a smart rich blue state......

you MUST DEFINE...without a true defination, you have no arguement



btw

new york (a supposed blue state) ranks number 6 as far as getting the MOST federal aid per capita

State Rankings--Statistical Abstract of the United States--Federal Aid to State and Local Governments

1 most...50 least

1 Wyoming
2 Arizona
3 Louisiana
4 Mississippi
5 Vermont
6 New York
7 New Mexico
8 North Dakota
9 Rhode Island
10 West Virginia
11 Maine
12 Montana
13 Massachusetts

so in the top 13 of """FEDERAL AID TO STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS PER CAPITA"""" ...very blue vermont, newyork, mass, maine, and rhaoda island..all in the top 13 of MOST federal aid per capita

Yep you are completly lost as usual. We are talking about Federcal recieipts recieved versus Federal expense on that State. The whole picture. Not just one side of the equation.

[Ferd]

Originally Posted by workingclasshero

and yet you have FAILED to exactly DEFINE red/blue

I gave an example of north carolina..it has been a DEMOCRAT STRONGHOLD (at the state level) for the last 100 years,,,yet in the 96,00, and 04 POTUS elections it voted republican...and in the 08 it was with obama

so again DEFINE it...was NC a dumb poor redstate from 96-07 but is now a smart rich blue state......

you MUST DEFINE...without a true defination, you have no arguement



btw

new york (a supposed blue state) ranks number 6 as far as getting the MOST federal aid per capita

State Rankings--Statistical Abstract of the United States--Federal Aid to State and Local Governments

1 most...50 least

1 Wyoming
2 Arizona
3 Louisiana
4 Mississippi
5 Vermont
6 New York
7 New Mexico
8 North Dakota
9 Rhode Island
10 West Virginia
11 Maine
12 Montana
13 Massachusetts

so in the top 13 of """FEDERAL AID TO STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS PER CAPITA"""" ...very blue vermont, newyork, mass, maine, and rhode island..all in the top 13 of MOST federal aid per capita

I would just add that Washington DC is Dem stronghold and in the ranking, it is not ranked with the states but gets more $$$ per capita than the states....

good point.

[brentwoodgirl]

Originally Posted by padcrasher

Fine. Correct for racial demographics and you are still left with Oklahoma and West Virginia...plenty white and plenty poor. New Mexico has huge Hispanic/Indian population so that's why it's an outlier.

Almost across the board...a Blue white has more income the a Red white.

West Virginia has hd a Democratic govenor since 2001. And of the last 75 years, it has had a D governor for about 2/3 of the time.

WV currently has 2 Democratic senators. They have not elected a Republican Senator since 1957.

So, is it a red state or blue state?

[Casper in Dallas]

I have never liked the red/blue state thing since it give a distorted view of how the country is made up politically. Texas is a great example, historically Texas has been a Democratic state, but in recent years the Republicans have run the show at the Federal level and State level, but at the major city level it is run by Democrats. A better way to look at the break down is county by county as shown below (FYI Purple means divided between R and D):



The Map Room: A U.S. Presidential Election Mashup