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You'll find alot of black conservative folks in the south. As the southern states have developed economically and become more suburban and metropolitan the more Republican they've become. The first parts of the south to go Republican were the suburban areas of large cities like Charlotte, Memphis, Nashville, Atlanta, Birmingham, Richmond, Dallas, Houston, Oklahoma City, Jacksonville, etc. The south has always been conservative.
You'll find alot of black conservative folks in the south. As the southern states have developed economically and become more suburban and metropolitan the more Republican they've become. The first parts of the south to go Republican were the suburban areas of large cities like Charlotte, Memphis, Nashville, Atlanta, Birmingham, Richmond, Dallas, Houston, Oklahoma City, Jacksonville, etc. The south has always been conservative.
Of course suburban areas do tend to be more conservative, but you're off in your assessment that Southern states have become more Republican the larger and more prosperous they've become. The larger metropolitan areas were largely why states like VA (NoVA) and NC (Charlotte, Raleigh/Durham) went blue in 2008. Texas is also getting more purple as the years pass and it's only a matter of time until it flips also.
Herman Cain is from GA, went to Morehouse, and ultimately became a self made multi multi millionaire, and he is a very Republican political commentator and potential future politician, and he currently resides in Atlanta. The largest College Republicans in Atlanta is at Morehouse (basically the premiere black Ivy).
What I have tended to notice in the black population moreso than in the white population where there is a dichotomy is that the more educated the person is, where that person grew up, if that person made it out of the ghetto on his own merits, went to college, etc, that person is going to potentially be either a right leaning moderate or a full on Republican. I have also noticed that black families that aren't in the ghetto or receiving handouts have more disdain for ghetto blacks than even whites do. You won't find Buckhead blacks socializing with those from S Atlanta. They are execs at Merrill Lynch, send their kids to private schools, and socialize with other Buckhead residents, etc, and they aren't looking back (though nobody wants to see people living in misery in the ghetto, blacks that made it out or have no part of the ghetto seem to have more of a bad taste in their mouth for those still there, usually their own people, than whites do).
I also agree with blacks that are military/heads of military households. In Jacksonville, where I am from, blacks in the military are definitely at the very least more conservative, if not Republican, and blacks who live in wealthy white areas/Jewish areas like Mandarin and Ponte Vedra are most likely Republican.
Now why do I say that wealthier and educated blacks are more likely to be Republican than blacks still in the ghetto? It's because blacks who made it out, made it out with a very large struggle, and they don't want to see their efforts go back to waste in the form of wealth redistribution. They know that there is opportunity for almost everyone in the ghetto to make it out, because they themselves did, and they know that there are political forces keeping them down, but there are also internal cultural forces from within the black community that perpetuates victimhood and keeps themselves down, and that is what Bill Cosby touches on and takes heat in doing so.
Of course suburban areas do tend to be more conservative, but you're off in your assessment that Southern states have become more Republican the larger and more prosperous they've become. The larger metropolitan areas were largely why states like VA (NoVA) and NC (Charlotte, Raleigh/Durham) went blue in 2008. Texas is also getting more purple as the years pass and it's only a matter of time until it flips also.
I forgot North Carolina & Virginia went blue in 08, you're right though.
The statistics I've read more affluent black voters are often more liberal rather than less. (This is unlike Hispanics who I believe did come out more Republican/Conservative if they're wealthier) Prince George's County is one of the "bluest counties" in the nation and home to more affluent blacks/AAs than most counties. I think there was even a discussion somewhere why black voters would be an outlier that way as in most ethnic groups the wealthier you are the more Republican you become. One theory, pro-Democratic I gather, is that wealthy blacks are more likely to experience being snubbed by affluent white Republicans than poorer blacks are because poorer blacks don't have to deal with affluent white Republicans much. So that snubbing makes them anti-Republican. Another might be a need to "prove" to themselves and their peers that money hasn't made them change.
I think in polls blacks came out as more "immutable" in that not many demographic features changed whether they were Republican or conservative-leaning. Although as with whites I think men were more conservative than women and more religious people were more conservative/Republican than less religious ones. (I'm going by what I remember of Pew Research and Gallup) Likely married people are more conservative than non-married, but I don't know for certain. Going by that maybe the little majority-black towns of Oklahoma would be somewhat conservative as I seem to recall they had a high rate of two-parent churchgoing families. (Looking it up, probably not)
Interestingly by one estimate a quarter of all identified as "Conservative Democrat" are black. As blacks represent a much lower percent of the population they are therefore overrepresented among Conservative Democrats. This is also higher than the percent of "Conservative Democrats" to be "Highly Religious Whites" as HRW's tend to be Republicans.
According to Pew 35% of people in "Historically Black churches" deem themselves "conservative." Although not all in HBCs are black I think like 90-95% of them are so. Around 46 in those churches believe abortion should be illegal in all or most cases, which isn't particularly high but is higher than "Mainline Protestants" and about the same as Catholics. They are not list as being as critical of homosexuality as White Evangelicals, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, or Muslims are but are more discouraging of it than Catholics or the Eastern Orthodox. They are pretty strong on the government protecting morals and are surprisingly, to me, critical of environmental regulations if they hurt jobs. However they come out strongly differing with more conservative groups on the size of government. According to Pew members of "Historically Black Churches" they are the strongest supporters, 72 to 18, of a big government that provides more services. Republican views of economics tend to lose more religious or poorer black voters while their social views presumably turn off the irreligious and affluent black voters. (Or it's because Republicans are all vile race-baiters, I don't really believe that but I grant many do)
The notion that the wealthier a person becomes the more conservative they get can not be proven by the voting data. For example, the most liberal voting group in Los Angeles are white and wealthy. Since Blacks, in general, vote Democratic at least 90% of the time suggests that all economic levels vote liberal. Another example of how Blacks are conservative in social issues but do not vote Republican is the breakdown of how people voted on the gay marriage issue in California. Blacks voted against gay marriage more than any other ethnic or racial group yet consistently vote for the most liberal representative.
Educated Blacks along with wealthy Blacks have as strong an allegiance to the Democratic party as poor Blacks. The few prominent Blacks who are Republican are either like Collin Powell [who voted for Obama] or Alan Keyes; the latter individual was overwhelmingly supported by white voters and nearly despised by Afro-Americans. And that is how the Republican party is basically viewed by Blacks: despised.
Maybe Atlanta and Florida are the only two cities that are different from every other city in America, but many if not most poor blacks don't even vote, per se, but the ones that do vote Democrat 99.9% of the time. When you get into the upper echelons of black society, it is not 99.9% voting Democrat; it is probably much more split. That was my point in saying a lot of wealthy and educated blacks vote Republican for the same reasons that wealthy and/or educated whites do (and whites are a dichotomy because often the more wealthy the person the more liberal). Those reasons are purely economical, and then it helps that many blacks are already socially conservative and pro-military. I would also argue that white people who are wealthy are liberal because they feel bad for the money they make, because society kind of makes it out to be a bad thing to be rich (and that rich people fell into their money...that's why rich heirs are Democrat and self-made millionaires/billionaires are often Republican).
Maybe Atlanta and Florida are the only two cities that are different from every other city in America, but many if not most poor blacks don't even vote, per se, but the ones that do vote Democrat 99.9% of the time. When you get into the upper echelons of black society, it is not 99.9% voting Democrat; it is probably much more split. That was my point in saying a lot of wealthy and educated blacks vote Republican for the same reasons that wealthy and/or educated whites do (and whites are a dichotomy because often the more wealthy the person the more liberal). Those reasons are purely economical, and then it helps that many blacks are already socially conservative and pro-military. I would also argue that white people who are wealthy are liberal because they feel bad for the money they make, because society kind of makes it out to be a bad thing to be rich (and that rich people fell into their money...that's why rich heirs are Democrat and self-made millionaires/billionaires are often Republican).
Once again, you are making assumptions that are not correct. All economic levels among Blacks vote overwhelmingly Democratic. And can you provide data that "poor black don't even vote"? As mentioned before, Black Americans are the most anti-Republican racial group in America at around 90% or above who vote Democratic. BTW, Florida is a state not a city.
Ok at 4 in the morning you are being a little too hard on me for making what I would consider obvious claims and a slip of the tongue (of course I know FL is a state, I'm studying for finals and taking a break...you can take a break, too). Voter turnout amongst all Americans is pretty darn low, and then when you factor in our poorest areas which are often black areas or rural Appalachia, those people are not voting in the same numbers as your average middle to upper income area. In 2000 almost 13 million blacks voted, 90% for Gore, 9% for Bush, and 1% for Nader. In 2004 just over 14 million blacks voted with pretty much the same spread. Obviously the numbers jumped for the Obama election (heck if I was black even I would have voted for the guy). When you consider that there are around 40 million blacks in America, these numbers are pretty low (much lower than American turnout overall).
Now, given the 9% who voted for Bush, I would wager a bet with you that most of that percentage are in the upper quintile income level amongst blacks, and that they have college degrees. Let's use the 80/20 rule (5 quintiles of income). Let's say 7/9 Bush voters were in the higher income 20% bracket. That means that 35% of higher income blacks voted Republican, and I am being conservative here. If all 9% were in that 20% bracket, then 45% of the upper 20% income voters went Republican.
So if my numbers were true (and I would seriously wager they are pretty accurate for estimates), then almost 100% of black voters in the bottom four quintiles pulled for a Democrat candidate and a fairly even, perhaps even close to 50-50 split of upper quintile black voters pulled Republican, which would clearly indicate that personal and/or household wealth and perhaps even education level (usually you need an education to have decent wealth) would play a major role in how blacks voted. Thus, my point would be proved (I am sure someone out there has all the numbers and could prove it...seems like an obvious thing to me).
I made an unprovable statement once on another forum. I said that in Manhattan, if you are wealthy then there is a good chance that you are Jewish and liberal/Democrat. Obviously there are exceptions, and obviously most cities aren't as Jewish or as liberal as New York, but man did I get attacked. I didn't think what I said was offensive (I was actually defending the wealthy by pointing out that they were in a minority group and to not blame them for everything and that they were in these people's political party). I didn't realize that if you were a Democrat, it was still offensive to call you a Democrat. ?? Just one of those things that seems obvious to me, and I am sure other people, too, but yet some people demand numbers and explanations, and bla bla bla.
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