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The abortion bill only makes the state look bad to liberals like you. That's a 50-50 issue in this country and pro lifers don't just live in rural areas. Also, there is no evidence that pro life positions drives away employers. The growth and size of ATL is evidence against that. It is not like employers have not known there are pro life conservatives in Georgia.
You probably won't believe me given your propensity to put people into neat ideological boxes, but I'm personally moderate in stance on this issue; I lean more pro-life but am against legislation that essentially serves as a nearly total and complete ban on abortion which is pretty extreme to me (and President Trump said as much himself in his criticism of Alabama's so-called heartbeat bill). That aside, my point was that the passage of the bill looked bad from a particular economic perspective. There were indeed calls for major film/TV companies to leave the state over the passage of the bill and a few did say they would leave or wouldn't shoot in Georgia until the law was overturned. The organization representing the largest five film studios said it wasn't making any decisions at the time but would monitor developments.
With the situation concerning Delta, the Republican lieutenant governor at the time actually threatened to rescind the company's $40 million in fuel tax breaks because it announced it was no longer offering flight discounts to NRA members attending the NRA annual conference shortly after the high school shooting in Florida took place last year. Even then-Gov. Deal and the Republican House Speaker said that move didn't help Georgia's image and Deal went on to restore the tax breaks.
There was also the religious freedom law in 2016 that hundreds of companies in the state vigorously opposed and at least one company left the state because of it.
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You also said the governor of Virginia didn't make his state look bad. That's an interesting contrast.
I dont think that divide is as bad as it was.I think Atlanta is no longer just a regional city of blacks.Even in VA you have that NOVA vs the rest of the state.Its more of a political thing that mixed with racial implications like GA.
In some ways the divide isn't as bad as it used to be since, as you implied, Atlanta isn't as Black as it used to be and the suburbs continue to diversify and lean blue. But in other ways it is as Atlanta continues to grow and the rural areas continue to stagnate and the culture wars have found new life in this post-Obama/Trump era and are magnified via social media platforms.
And yes, there is a NOVA/rest of VA (except Richmond, Hampton Roads, etc) divide but it's a standard urban/rural, liberal/conservative divide; it doesn't carry the racial overtones of the Atlanta/rural GA divide. NoVA didn't reject Metro rail due to irrational racial fears, for instance, and is currently expanding it to Dulles.
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I have to disagree with the interstate system.In the past yes but Im here now for the holidays and I drove through Macon. There is a massive interchange system being built now.
Augusta already has an exchange and highway expansions.
And yet Augusta is critically missing a north/south interstate that could at least connect it to Savannah's port, Columbus doesn't have direct interstate access (only a spur), and there is no east-west interstate linking Columbus, Macon, and Augusta (although there is the Fall Line Freeway). Georgia has been a bit late to the party when it comes to highway infrastructure in the rest of the state which is notable given how physically large the state is.
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Im confused because it sounds like the argument is that VA cities are so much more populous, but the reality is VA isnt like NC or even TN when it comes to having more than one major metro.
What's your definition of a major metro? Looking at MSAs in each state you just mentioned, VA has three over 1M with the rest under 500K. NC has two over 1M, three between 500K and 1M and the rest under 500K. TN has two over 1M, two between 500K and 1M, and the rest under 500K. I don't think a true major metro can have less than 1M so by that definition, VA beats both NC and TN here; if one wants to be generous and consider the NC Triad a singular metro, then NC would match but still not beat VA.
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While larger than GA cities they arent significantly so much bigger like say Atlanta compared to the VA Beach-Newport News metro.
I understand that there are more populous areas of VA but lets be honest,VA is 2 million people less than Georgia. most of that is Atlanta. In VA,most of that is in Northern VA.Basically the size of metro Atlanta.
It may seem easy to take Atlanta out of the equation by saying "well if it wasnt for Atlanta...." but with an area so large and influential its not possible.
I'm not taking Atlanta out. VA just has a better distribution of larger metro areas and that makes a difference when it comes to collectively fighting for urban issues in the state legislature, like mass transit. NoVA has HRT, Hampton Roads has LRT, and Richmond has BRT (and NoVA and Richmond are also on the Acela line). And VA having three large metro areas with 2M less people than GA gives it an advantage politically; before it went completely blue recently (and we'll see how long that lasts), VA's state government was pretty balanced between the two parties.
And actually most of VA's population isn't in NoVA. The statewide population is 8.5M and NoVA is 3.1M.
Economy is GA, GA has some of the best roads in the country and much better than VA's....I think VA edges GA because of education and QOL. Politics are pretty close in these two states with VA being slightly more purple.
If Georgia's governor is any indicator of the states politics, then Georgia is the most absolutely backwards and regressive of the 50 states.
The Norfolk/Hampton Roads area is generally conservative due to the military. I noticed it was also very culturally conservative. It's the only place I know where you can get a ticket for using profanity (the Virginia Beach waterfront area) like in the movie Demolition Man.
One thing I've been hearing about Virginia is the radical gun control laws they are trying to pass.
Anyhow, I think Georgia is losing in this poll not because people particularly love Virginia, but they hate Georgia.
Virginia, specifically the DC area has one big problem. Cost of housing has exploded! I recently explored a relo there and holy crap are homes expensive. No way I'm paying those prices.
The Norfolk/Hampton Roads area is generally conservative due to the military. I noticed it was also very culturally conservative. It's the only place I know where you can get a ticket for using profanity (the Virginia Beach waterfront area) like in the movie Demolition Man.
One thing I've been hearing about Virginia is the radical gun control laws they are trying to pass.
Anyhow, I think Georgia is losing in this poll not because people particularly love Virginia, but they hate Georgia.
Hampton Roads is a big engineering job metro and engineers tend to be conservative.
Virginia is on its way to becoming a one forever party state like California.
Every opinion question on City Data seems to turn political sooner or later.
GA vs VA is really a matter of personal preference. Having lived for years in both places I would not rate one as significantly better overall.
GA has a much better climate, better traffic and roads (except in Atlanta), lower COL, worse schools, much more rural in many areas (because of the many, many local counties.
VA has a better jobs market, better access to beaches, much more expensive unless you live in rural VA. VA is still southern but feels much less Southern overall than GA.
Both have an abundance of national parks and natural areas, lakes, rivers, camping, hunting, hiking, etc. One major difference - Atlanta - VA has no city even approaching the size and scale of Atlanta.
If Georgia's governor is any indicator of the states politics, then Georgia is the most absolutely backwards and regressive of the 50 states.
Ok so for me backwards is not only politics but ineffectiveness.You take a state like Illinois and even New York you also have corruption.
Brian Kemp I believe is corrupt too ,especially how he won,but time will tell if barrring the passing of the bill he put forward,will he be more "backwards" than any of the 50 states leaders,but for now i feel your statement is ridiculous
The Norfolk/Hampton Roads area is generally conservative due to the military. I noticed it was also very culturally conservative. It's the only place I know where you can get a ticket for using profanity (the Virginia Beach waterfront area) like in the movie Demolition Man.
One thing I've been hearing about Virginia is the radical gun control laws they are trying to pass.
Anyhow, I think Georgia is losing in this poll not because people particularly love Virginia, but they hate Georgia.
Exactly.Or they have an image that is based on outdated stereotypes. I really dont believe most of the people have been to more places in Georgia than Atlanta or Savannah.
VA being so near DC makes it more accessible and visible
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