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Pierce County includes significant right-leaning areas. Due to its large flattish area and low-intensity growth management, it's home to a large percentage of the Seattle metro's larger-lot suburbia and horse farms. Local counties go all the way to the peak of the Cascades in fact. And of course the big military and ex-military presence. Tacoma itself is somewhere between that and Seattle. Tacoma's north end is (represented by the movie Ten Things I Hate About You) is more the latter.
Travis County has 30% more population. Tacoma is tiny.
If you drew Tacoma sized boundaries around downtown Austin do you have any idea how liberal of a city that would be?
It's ridiculous to me how much people buy into the BS "red state" vs. "blue state" concept. The idea that any random town in WA is automatically as or more liberal than the progressive capital of the southern half of the USA...
Pierce County, WA is MAGA-land in comparison to Travis County, TX. Is this clear to you?
I would agree that Travis County is more liberal than Pierce County, but the differentials in the 2018 Senate race margins are probably inflated - since Ted Cruz is a truly ultra-conservative politician whose profile would repel the majority of Travis residents more than a "standard" Republican. I doubt Washington's Republican nominee (not familiar with her) was so stridently far right.
Travis County also has a pretty sharp difference in political orientation between the central and outlying areas. My guess is the same is true of Pierce County, with the city of Tacoma leaning further left compared to the outskirts. And Pierce is certainly more liberal than the outer counties of metro Austin.
Pierce County, WA is MAGA-land in comparison to Travis County, TX. Is this clear to you?
That makes sense if we were talking about counties, in which case I agree with you. But we aren't talking about counties. Pierce county absolutely has some right leaning areas, the city of Tacoma is far from.
I'm not here to knock on Austin, and I agree it's liberal. I just feel like Tacoma was being dismissed as not being a liberal city, when in fact, it is. It's not typical of a liberal city because a lot of the people are from working class or blue collar backgrounds, and it has received less fiscal investment than Seattle/ was neglected by people in power for decades.
I would agree that Travis County is more liberal than Pierce County, but the differentials in the 2018 Senate race margins are probably inflated - since Ted Cruz is a truly ultra-conservative politician whose profile would repel the majority of Travis residents more than a "standard" Republican. I doubt Washington's Republican nominee (not familiar with her) was so stridently far right.
Travis County also has a pretty sharp difference in political orientation between the central and outlying areas. My guess is the same is true of Pierce County, with the city of Tacoma leaning further left compared to the outskirts. And Pierce is certainly more liberal than the outer counties of metro Austin.
I don't get the point. Look at the primary results.
Travis County--despite being much smaller in land area--has twice as many people show up and vote for a democrat, and those people had a much stronger preference for the more liberal candidates Sanders and Warren.
Choosing Tacoma over Austin because you want to be surrounded by liberal people just doesn't make any sense. Austin is the larger, more progressive city. We aren't talking about Seattle, we are talking about Tacoma.
Now if you don't like the heat, prefer mountain-oriented outdoor activities over water-oriented outdoor activities, want a smaller city, got a better job offer in Tacoma, etc, etc, then by all means choose Tacoma. But it is not more liberal than Austin, and the comparison is not close.
I would choose Tacoma for sure. It is more affordable and close to Seattle. For your salary, it would be well worth it. Also, it is a more progressive area with decent infrastructure.
That makes sense if we were talking about counties, in which case I agree with you. But we aren't talking about counties. Pierce county absolutely has some right leaning areas, the city of Tacoma is far from.
I'm not here to knock on Austin, and I agree it's liberal. I just feel like Tacoma was being dismissed as not being a liberal city, when in fact, it is. It's not typical of a liberal city because a lot of the people are from working class or blue collar backgrounds, and it has received less fiscal investment than Seattle/ was neglected by people in power for decades.
I'm not saying Tacoma is not a "liberal city", I'm saying that it is--quite clearly--less liberal than Austin. A Tacoma-sized Austin would look something like Berkeley, CA politically.
I'm not saying Tacoma is not a "liberal city", I'm saying that it is--quite clearly--less liberal than Austin. A Tacoma-sized Austin would look something like Berkeley, CA politically.
Travis County has 30% more population. Tacoma is tiny.
If you drew Tacoma sized boundaries around downtown Austin do you have any idea how liberal of a city that would be?
It's ridiculous to me how much people buy into the BS "red state" vs. "blue state" concept. The idea that any random town in WA is automatically as or more liberal than the progressive capital of the southern half of the USA...
A state that's 55% or 60% in one direction has a broad range of people like anywhere else...but that group makes decisions that affect everyone. There's no escaping the fact that you're in Texas.
A state that's 55% or 60% in one direction has a broad range of people like anywhere else...but that group makes decisions that affect everyone. There's no escaping the fact that you're in Texas.
We are talking about Austin vs. Tacoma.
In Washington 52% voted for Clinton, vs. 43% in Texas. A 9% difference.
In Travis County 66% voted for Clinton vs. 48% in Pierce County. A 18% difference.
Since then the cities have probably moved further apart--see the 2018 Senate election and 2020 primaries--as Tacoma is mostly stagnant while Austin is the fastest growing major city in the country.
But sure, Tacoma is more liberal because "blue state". It's only 35 miles from Seattle after all. Very convincing.
IMO Seattle is conservative. You can't escape that it's part of the USA, led by Donald Trump.
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