overall political ideas of residences of washington (Seattle, Tacoma: real estate, college)

[wifmmmy]

I am from California and cant wait to move. we are relocating out of state and have narrowed down a few choices. washington is one of them. I was wondering if a few different people from different areas of washington can let me know what the overall political view of washington is from one area to another. of course I know you cant place a label on one persons view and state it as the view of all. But I can at least get an idea if a few people from different parts of washington voice their opinion. I dont want to move to a state that will become california in a few years. I am on the conservative side and would like to move to an area with that in mind. any info is greatly appreciated. thank you in advance for the help

[RodFarlee]

Idaho might fit your criterion better than Washington? ID is deep red, while WA is pale blue.

While the last six years have sharply polarized politics in most states, that is less true of Washington. For example, I can't say that I've met anyone here who would even propose using that as a criterion of where to live. This state is relatively politically tolerant.

In general, Seattle/Tacoma metro area elects more Democrats, while the rest of western WA is relatively evenly divided, and eastern WA elects more Republicans.

On party lines, the state is almost perfectly balanced; if the last gubernatorial vote is any guide, you'd have to say it's not just 50/50 but 50.00/50.00!

In that highly contested vote, some rancorous partisanship did come out. But that's clearly the exception which proves the rule.

Politics may bring Californians into the streets with torches, while Washington holds a candlelight procession.

[diggitydot]

Most of the smaller towns in WA tend to be fairly conservative. Particularly the further away from I-5 you get. In all, a good rule of thumb for WA is that the eastern side of the Cascade Mountains is VERY conservative. The western side is much more liberal.

[the dufferz]

RodFarley has the split and mix nailed very well.

One point to be aware of is that the main population centers, being more liberal, can infuence statewide politics. For example, strict land use laws that favor the populated areas in King county, while hurting the rural area of the county usually pass because the votes and the voice heard most loudly is the populated areas. This is also true on many state initiatives where the political wind blows hardest with these populated areas, there are not enough rural votes to counterbalance these population centers. If you were to see the red/blue map of the counties after an election, you will find that the republican party will win the majority of counties, but can lose to the democrat party by 10% popular vote.

If you choose Washington and want a more conservative climate, eastern Washington would be best.

[Mark S.]

The Puget Sound area (Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia, etc.) is deep, deep blue. The rest of western Washington is a paler shade of blue with an occasional dot of red.

Eastern Washington is much more red.

If you're leaving California to get out of the urban sprawl, bad crime, traffic, and high real estate prices, western Washington isn't a whole lot better. Gangs have become a real problem in the past 10-15 years. Traffic is not as bad as L.A., but it's still pretty bad.

[KidBlue]

Before I visited WA, I had seen on the internet that the governor and both senators were democrats. I assumed the state was pretty liberal but was really surprised how many conservative churches there were in some parts of western WA (Centralia, Chehalis, Morton). I also heard that Yelm, Rainier, Tenino, and Centralia have a lot of retired military residents and they tend to be more conservative.

The same politics happens in CA too. Some counties (El Dorado, Placer, Nevada, Orange, Amador, among others) always vote red but the large population areas of the bay area, LA, and Sacramento totally overwhelm the rural areas with a blue vote. Guess that makes WA and CA purple states with all the red and blue mixing together?

[fairweathergolfer]

rodfarlee said,

Idaho might fit your criterion better than Washington? ID is deep red, while WA is pale blue.

WA is only blue because Seattle and Olympia (extreme liberal college town) are blue, blue blue. Those two areas and maybe some of the islands, and possibly Bellingham--another college town, need I say more) and the rest is RED, RED, RED state all the way.

We are conservatives and lived in Seattle for many, many years. You'll get a good laugh, and you'll get used to shaking your head a lot. East of the mountains you'll get some of the most conservative politics around. Don't let all those city folks and college town blue state mentality fool you into thinking it is all blue state mentality (it sure is not!). You'll just be frustrated at losing the whole state to the blue in presidential elections though. Probably not if Guliani is the Republican's candidate in 2008 (you never know, the city has a tendency toward moderate business friendly presidents that are socially liberal. Of they are not socially liberal, there is no way.). I believe they voted for Bush 1 the year he won. Good luck with your hunt. There are many red staters all over, even in the blue, blue havens. You probably already know this. Good luck to you!

[fairweathergolfer]

P.S. There is also a very large (comparably) contingent of green party (and third party) candidate voters in the NW. They love Nader there for example and vote for him in droves or any other third party candidate as well.

Many times the Democratic party is too conservative for many in the NW (especially out of Olympia, and more then you'd expect out of Seattle). Believe me in Seattle the Dems are by definition the conservative party. There are so many extreme leftists. California, believe it or not is mainly just Democrat blue (sure there are the greens and third parties, but majority in the city is just Democrat). It really showed me how extreme some of the liberalism is in the NW, so be prepared for that. That can be a bit shocking.

[RodFarlee]

Originally Posted by fairweathergolfer

P.S. There is also a very large (comparably) contingent of green party (and third party) candidate voters in the NW. They love Nader there for example and vote for him in droves or any other third party candidate as well.
Many times the Democratic party is too conservative for many in the NW...

"Droves"? Nader got 0.8% of the 2004 WA vote, less he got in a dozen other states.

The successful statewide candidates of either party are somewhat "middle of the road". That may leave voters on either extreme feeling unrepresented.

It might be worth noting that the Green Party is roughly ten times more popular in Alaska than it is in Washington state. I don't think that paints Alaska blue, or green for that matter; it's a red state. Indeed, that's probably why there is a bigger green vote there than here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._pr...4_%28detail%29

[Brett]

Originally Posted by fairweathergolfer

It really showed me how extreme some of the liberalism is in the NW, so be prepared for that. That can be a bit shocking.

I have lived most of my life in the blue part of oregon, and I always treat my conservative neighbors with respect, however when I go to the east side I get stared and pointed at like I am a circus freak. (Could be the long hair and VW bus). But if anything shockes me, its how some people think it is ok to be rude because they don't like my percieved voting prefs. I think people should just be polite and respectful.