Is The South Bay/San Jose The Most Conservative in Bay Area? (Los Angeles: living, friendly)

[BayDude]

According to this list San Jose Beats Savannah Georgia and many other southern cities:

America's most liberal cities in 2005

1. Detroit, Michigan
2. Gary, Indiana
3. Berkeley, California
4. Washington, D.C.
5. Oakland, California
6. Inglewood, California
7. Newark, New Jersey
8. Cambridge, Massachusetts
9. San Francisco, California
10. Flint, Michigan
11. Cleveland, Ohio
12. Hartford, Connecticut
13. Paterson, New Jersey
14. Baltimore, Maryland
15. New Haven, Connecticut
16. Seattle, Washington
17. Chicago, Illinois
18. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
19. Birmingham, Alabama
20. St. Louis, Missouri
21. New York, New York
22. Providence, Rhode Island
23. Minneapolis, Minnesota
24. Boston, Massachusetts
25. Buffalo, New York
26. New Orleans, Louisiana
27. Ann Arbor, Michigan
28. Jersey City, New Jersey
29. Portland, Oregon
30. Daly City, California
31. Atlanta, Georgia
32. Dallas, Texas
33. Hayward, California
34. Madison, Wisconsin
35. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
36. St. Paul, Minnesota
37. Los Angeles, California
38. Rochester, New York
39. Memphis, Tennessee
40. Milwaukee, Wisconsin
41. Vallejo, California
42. Dayton, Ohio
43. Bridgeport, Connecticut
44. Springfield, Massachusetts
45. Syracuse, New York
46. Jackson, Mississippi
47. Jackson, Mississippi
48. Akron, Ohio
49. Denver, Colorado
50. Richmond, Virginia
51. El Monte, California
52. Pasadena, California
53. Toledo, Ohio
54. Eugene, Oregon
55. Elizabeth, New Jersey
56. Cincinnati, Ohio
57. Santa Rosa, California
58. Worcester, Massachusetts
59. Kansas City, Missouri
60. Kansas City, Kansas
61. Durham, North Carolina
62. Sunnyvale, California
63. Alexandria, Virginia
64. Fremont, California
65. Tallahassee, Florida
66. Pomona, California
67. Lansing, Michigan
68. Erie, Pennsylvania
69. Savannah, Georgia
70. Long Beach, California
71. Sacramento, California
72. Greensboro, North Carolina
73. Hollywood, Florida
74. San Jose, California

I've noticed a general difference when traveling to the south bay/san jose than in rest of the bay area. South bay cities also have a R+1 (republican) cook pvi rating. Kinda surprising. Whats most surprising is that its a big city but is relatively conservative. Is this more or less your experience?

So more or less the more north you go the more liberal it gets?

[gone down south]

I would who's list is this, and what criteria did they use to compile it?

[krudmonk]

Fiscally, maybe. Socially, no way.

[Bunjee]

The list is no surprise to me. I remember when Clinton was elected a lot of the engineers at my company basically said it was the end of the world as we knew it. One woman who grew up in Sunnyvale and lived in Fremont was brutally hardline on social issues to as shocking an extent as I've ever known anyone to be and still been friendly. There's of course a spectrum much as you'd find anywhere, but (others may dispute this) I actually found Silicon Valley to be much like OC in its mix of conservative/liberal/in-between.

Remember too that there's a huge Taiwanese community living and doing business in SV. They tend to be very conservative. Also Indian and Persian, though I don't think those communities are quite as staunchly right wing.

[BayDude]

Originally Posted by krudmonk

Fiscally, maybe. Socially, no way.

Yeah I wouldn't say they are socially conservative, but fiscally yes. I heard San Jose just elected 2 republicans to their city council which is unheard of in the rest of the Bay Area. Republicans are literrally an endangered species in Bay Area politics. They are nowhere near 10 feet of an elected position.

[BayDude]

Originally Posted by gone down south

I would who's list is this, and what criteria did they use to compile it?

It came from the Bay Area Center For Voting Research I believe. I just googled "most liberal cities in us".

[sav858]

I would probably also say Central Contra Costa County is a relatively conservative area for the Bay Area. Danville, San Ramon, Lamorinda, Walnut Creek, etc.. are fairly moderate and not as liberal/democratic as western Contra Costa County and a lot of the inner Bay Area. Pleasanton also kind of struck me as somewhat of a conservative area.

[gone down south]

Originally Posted by BayDude

It came from the Bay Area Center For Voting Research I believe. I just googled "most liberal cities in us".

It was a rhetorical question I hate it when people post stuff like that without bothering to check the source. A place I lived was once put on a "Least Attractive People" magazine list, to the great consternation of locals - I mean come on, how do you empirically determine that??? It was obviously a puff piece based on one person's impression, but put it in a Top 10 list and watch it go viral!

[mysticaltyger]

San Jose and Silicon Valley tend to be fiscally conservative, but not socially. It's generally a liberal area, but not as much as San Francisco or Oakland. Not the most conservative part of the Bay Area. That would probably be the inland parts of the East Bay...although that area is more moderate than hardcore conservative.

[MichaelinWA]

I agree with all of that.

I remember last decade that the congressional 10th district (Contra Costa County, mostly) was considered perhaps the most conservative in the Bay Area, and I think it had a Republican majority. Ellen Tauscher (a Democrat) was able to win there in part because she was a fiscal centrist and Bay Area Republicans tend to be moderate on social issues. Later on, redistricting made her job easier.

Originally Posted by mysticaltyger

San Jose and Silicon Valley tend to be fiscally conservative, but not socially. It's generally a liberal area, but not as much as San Francisco or Oakland. Not the most conservative part of the Bay Area. That would probably be the inland parts of the East Bay...although that area is more moderate than hardcore conservative.