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Location: The western periphery of Terra Australis
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sav858
I would say San Diego County is fairly moderate overall and leans to the right more than the left, but not my much. The city itself is pretty moderate overall, more so than the county. I believe in a study of the most liberal and conservative cities SD ranked literally right in the middle.
2008 Election Results:
Austin MSA (5 counties) 57% Obama
San Diego MSA 54% Obama
Looking at data Austin is more "liberal" than SD but I think their reputations can be exaggerated due to the states they reside in. Plus SD is known for it's military industry and Austin is known for being a large college town. But SD is much larger than Austin too, so it's easy to live in an area that is fairly liberal. I lived in Central SD County for 9 years and it never felt that conservative.
This is the crux of the matter. Other Texas cities might be more liberal than people believe, but people still have this view that Texas = conservative.
SD probably is more moderate: I mean few large cities in the US are truly as conservative as the rural Bible belt: Jacksonville is an example of a truly conservative large city, but SD's reputation seems largely because it resides in California. Indeed, outside the smaller coastal cities and LA and SF and the rest of the Bay California's cities are moderate to somewhat conservative, Bakersfield, Fresno, Redding.etc.
Mind you, the one's who may not have voted for Obama also tend to be staunchly independent and libertarians. So I'd bet Ron Paul had a significant bulk of that other half of Austin votes at the time. Edit: nevermind, you were including the MSA and not just Austin and that makes more sense.
Well in SD County 1.7% voted for "other" which would include Paul and in Travis County 1.2% voted for other, the other 4 Austin MSA counties were 1.2% or below for other. Besides Perot (another Texan), I don't think any 3rd party candidate has really made much of a difference anywhere.
But I get your point, I'm sure many outside of TX would be surprised by Dallas County's election results. Also Houston having a gay mayor says a lot imo. I don't think SF has ever had a gay mayoral candidate that was one of the main candidates and had a chance of winning. One of the two primary candidates for SD mayor this year is gay but he is the Republican candidate as well. SD tends to be very fiscally conservative but relatively socially liberal/libertarian. So SD may end up with a gay mayor after this election, something I'm sure many in SF would never even fathom based on its "reputation".
Really? I have some friends in Georgetown and they're not conservative at all. I love it up there, it's pretty.
I'd say it's the legislators and their staff living in Round Rock/Georgetown that make it the second most conservative county since Central Austin is one of the highest COL's in the state; rivaling Coastal California. Though the tech types (who mostly work for or serve Dell) tend to be libertarian, counteracting that social conservatism a little bit.
I'm not sure where the stats come from, but SD is very conservative (particularly fiscally) for coastal CA and is surrounded by conservative towns/cities. Downtown and areas very close to it are socialist, while all surrounding areas (including many named regions of the city, which is enormous in land area) lean more fiscally conservative. Most people are socially liberal, with the only exception being the relatively-large catholic population.
My bet would be that Austin is more "liberal" in all senses of the title. It's a more "blue" place in general, while SD is a more "red" place.
Well, we can look to California's Prop. 8 (2008) and Texas's Prop.2 (2005) for guidance.
Texas's Prop.2 is exactly like Prop.8, except it was passed three years earlier by a state-wide margin of well over 70%. This map will break it down by county. The darker the blue, the stronger the opposition to the amendment. Notice the single green county in the center. That is Travis County where Austin is the seat. It came out against the amendment 40%-60%, with Austin itself coming at 70%+ against. Even our suburban county to the south (Hays) almost went against prop 2, and Williamson County's opposition was stronger than the Texas average, as were most of the counties surrounding Austin.
The fact that, nationally, 60% of Americans believed same-sex marriage should be illegal in 2005 makes Austin's showing even more stunning.
San Diego County, in 2008, came out just over 53% in favor of Prop.8, with its surrounding counties more staunchly favoring the amendment. In 2008, the number of Americans who thought same-sex marriage should be illegal was down to 56%.
I always thought California as a whole was the most liberal place in the country. Austin seems to be the most gay friendly according to that graphic, but i would say San Antonio is also pretty gay friendly. San Antonio has the highest percentage of gay couples raising children in the U.S.
I'm not sure where the stats come from, but SD is very conservative (particularly fiscally) for coastal CA and is surrounded by conservative towns/cities. Downtown and areas very close to it are socialist, while all surrounding areas (including many named regions of the city, which is enormous in land area) lean more fiscally conservative. Most people are socially liberal, with the only exception being the relatively-large catholic population.
My bet would be that Austin is more "liberal" in all senses of the title. It's a more "blue" place in general, while SD is a more "red" place.
You couldn't be more wrong.
In the city of SD, the GOP is the third largest party after Democrats and Independents.
SD tends to be very fiscally conservative but relatively socially liberal/libertarian. So SD may end up with a gay mayor after this election, something I'm sure many in SF would never even fathom based on its "reputation".
Our acting mayor is openly gay and no one cares.......
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