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Colorado has a strong division. The majority of Coloradans (over 4 million, I believe) live in urban/suburban Front Range cities - with the majority of those being in the Denver metro area (3 million or so). Rural Colorado is maybe a million people, very spread out, and it's a conservative, "wild West", gun culture that's often at odds with more liberal Denver. All generalizations, of course. I'm sure you'll find tree huggers in rural areas and gun lovers in Denver, but overall....
Oregon, desert republicans in the East and forest democrats in the West.
Outside of Portland, Salem and Eugene, most of Western Oregon is pretty staunchly Republican as well.
Same thing with Washington outside of the Puget Sound region. Hell, I stopped at a rest area in Centralia last week, and saw a bunch of Confederate Flags and White Power literature in the bathroom.
I would argue PA has a more significant urban/rural divide than either NY or CA (can't really speak to IL as only have spent time in the Chicagoland area there)
PA goes Amish then even moreso Appalachian for a large portion of the state - NY has rural areas that are more refined and less impoverished. CA has some poor rural enclaves (also more transient bohemian activity) but seem more clustered if that makes sense. Most of PA by land area would feel more like West Virginia whereas NY still has more prosperous and even cultured areas outside of the cities. Just an observation but to me is a more stark difference if that makes sense - not that one is better or worse just to me more of a difference
Don't no for sure, only traveled to PA for business (and love it). But I'd heard the state described by some locals I'd met that "PA is one big city in the east, one big city in the west, and Kentucky in between."
Colorado has a strong division. The majority of Coloradans (over 4 million, I believe) live in urban/suburban Front Range cities - with the majority of those being in the Denver metro area (3 million or so). Rural Colorado is maybe a million people, very spread out, and it's a conservative, "wild West", gun culture that's often at odds with more liberal Denver. All generalizations, of course. I'm sure you'll find tree huggers in rural areas and gun lovers in Denver, but overall....
Less Colorado's share (most of) the Front Range Urban Corridor, your remaining population estimate is pretty much right on.
Don't no for sure, only traveled to PA for business (and love it). But I'd heard the state described by some locals I'd met that "PA is one big city in the east, one big city in the west, and Kentucky in between."
Yes - have also heard Alabama in the middle - to me I think West Virginia in the middle makes the mot sense
I believe PA actually has one of larger rural populations of all states - though more than 45% (I believe for a state of 11 Million) of the population lives in the sliver in the SE of the state within say 20 miles of New Jersey
Florida has this divide but metro areas are pretty even distributed throughout the state versus some states like Illinois with only one major metro area. I would say there is more of a cultural divide between more traditional southern attributes up in Northern Florida versus more Northeastern attributes in South Florida.
Oregon/Washington, California, New York, Pennsylvania, Colorado are the ones that come to mind for me. Maryland and IL are good too.
New York? The division is more upstate/downstate. Over half of upstate is urban/suburban, it's not just an urban/suburban divide. Politically, upstate has a Democratic lean in national politics, but a Republican lean for many state-level elections, perhaps because at the state level the Republican Party represents the not NYC interests.
Colorado has a strong division. The majority of Coloradans (over 4 million, I believe) live in urban/suburban Front Range cities - with the majority of those being in the Denver metro area (3 million or so). Rural Colorado is maybe a million people, very spread out, and it's a conservative, "wild West", gun culture that's often at odds with more liberal Denver. All generalizations, of course. I'm sure you'll find tree huggers in rural areas and gun lovers in Denver, but overall....
I was going to say CO, as well. For most people, the choice of places to live is really either Front Range urban corridor (urban/suburban) or small town/rural- there are no small to medium-sized metros, with the exception of Grand Junction. IMHO, it's a bit unfortunate, as the cities that I really desire to live in fall in that category- e.g. Flagstaff, Missoula, Bend, Santa Fe, Bellingham, Ashevillle (Boulder is too close to Denver and not my favorite).
Anyway, I also wanted to add to your comments the fact that the small towns in CO do vary quite a bit in terms of politics. The libertarian attitude is noticeable, but they're not all conservative. The high country counties and those close to the NM border often go blue - in fact, some towns, often resort or tourism hotspots like Telluride and Aspen, are actually very progressive, while others are very red. For example, when I lived on the Western Slope, I was amazed at the difference in attitude between say, Glenwood/Carbondale and New Castle/Rifle. Close by, but different mentality to be sure.
Last edited by bartonizer; 03-30-2015 at 04:58 AM..
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