Is Virginia Beach Really the Third Most Conservative City in the USA? (Norfolk: fit in, credit)

[ersatz]

I confess that I always fall for ClickBait articles like a ton of bricks. Shame on me. [Blush] I just clicked through The 10 Most Conservative and Liberal Cities in the USA. Virginia Beach scored as the Third Most Conservative City in the USA.

Really? I never got that impression from all the times I've visited, and I still toy with the idea of moving there. "Most conservative city" is not a selling point for me but it's no show stopper either. I just take people as I find them. My chief concern is "Are they nice good-hearted people? Or not?"

I realize the whole HR area is heavily military-dependent and that tends to skew conservative. But, really, is VB way more conservative than Kansas City KS, Houma LA, Jackson MS, or Coueur d'Alene ID? I think this article is pure BS. What do you think of VB's reputation?

[Babe_Ruth]

Originally Posted by ersatz

"Most conservative city" is not a selling point for me.. My chief concern is "Are they nice good-hearted people? What do you think of VB's reputation?

Ersatz, hi.. The inference in your post, is that a city that is Conservative may not be good-hearted.
If that is your perception of/concern about Conservatism, VA Beach may not be for you.

VB has a large military (family) presence, and is culturally influenced (to some extent) by Pat Robertson. If you're a childless hipster, check Ghent (Norfolk). Norfolk is welcoming arrogant gentrification with open arms. But if you have children, Norfolk school's aren't ideal. Peace

[lammius]

Virginia Beach is unlike most cities. It’s really a suburban and rural county with a city name. VB has similar population density and development pattern to places like Henrico County or Prince William County, maybe Chesterfield Co., which tend to be more conservative than most cities. I think of those places as VB’s peers, and am not surprised to learn that when you compare VB to urban cities, VB ranks more conservative than most.

[Poquoson7]

I find that VA Beach and the entire metro area is far more live and let live than given credit for. We relocated to the area 11 years ago from the West Coast after researching and visiting several other metro's in the Southeast. Hampton Roads/Coastal Virginia won out for sure......I say a big BS for this survey.

[jetgraphics]

Hang out at the A.R.E. on 67th st.
Edgar Cayce, psychics, and metaphysics, oh my.

[ersatz]

Originally Posted by Babe_Ruth

Ersatz, hi.. The inference in your post, is that a city that is Conservative may not be good-hearted.
If that is your perception of/concern about Conservatism, VA Beach may not be for you.

There is such a thing as inferring inferences.

I know a lot of people with very different views. Some of the kindest people I know are strongly conservative. I know some very left leaning liberals who also are kind and helpful to others.

I recently tried to provide helpful advice to another Virginia thread by an OP seeking to move only to an area where they would be surrounded by progressives, but it bothered me. There seems to be a lot more effort lately in the various media to drive wedges between people with different politics and get them to thinking of people with different viewpoints as "others" who deserve scorn and negative treatment. I've seen this kind of thinking before in different countries I passed through and it never led to anything good. Some of those countries aren't around anymore.

But, anyway, back to the topic of Virginia Beach. Although the 'survey' was a dumb article, I thought people should be aware of it. Though, in retrospect, adding more viewers to drive up click revenue might not have been the best way to go about it.

[jobber123rd]

Originally Posted by ersatz

I confess that I always fall for ClickBait articles like a ton of bricks. Shame on me. [Blush] I just clicked through The 10 Most Conservative and Liberal Cities in the USA. Virginia Beach scored as the Third Most Conservative City in the USA.

Really? I never got that impression from all the times I've visited, and I still toy with the idea of moving there. "Most conservative city" is not a selling point for me but it's no show stopper either. I just take people as I find them. My chief concern is "Are they nice good-hearted people? Or not?"

I realize the whole HR area is heavily military-dependent and that tends to skew conservative. But, really, is VB way more conservative than Kansas City KS, Houma LA, Jackson MS, or Coueur d'Alene ID? I think this article is pure BS. What do you think of VB's reputation?

In compiling the list, The Economist considered only cities of at least 250k population. None of the other places you mentioned qualified.

[ChessieMom]

Originally Posted by Babe_Ruth

Ersatz, hi.. The inference in your post, is that a city that is Conservative may not be good-hearted.
If that is your perception of/concern about Conservatism, VA Beach may not be for you.

VB has a large military (family) presence, and is culturally influenced (to some extent) by Pat Robertson. If you're a childless hipster, check Ghent (Norfolk). Norfolk is welcoming arrogant gentrification with open arms. But if you have children, Norfolk school's aren't ideal. Peace

LOL. Every single person I know thinks that Pat Robertson and that entire clan are full of crap. And I do consider myself to be somewhat conservative!

[jillybean720]

I'm not conservative. I've been in VB for almost 3.5 years now, and I feel fine here. I don't feel like anyone's tried shoving conservatism down my throat or anything. IMO, it's a pretty laid back area. Of course, I moved here after spending about 10 years in Northern VA, so that's my primary basis of comparison. I've certainly never felt odd or shunned because of my more liberal beliefs. I actually have quite a few military friends in this area who are much more liberal than conservative. Having people here from so many different places, I'd say it's actually a pretty good mix. And generally respectful of those with differing views. Maybe folks around here tend to focus less on the divisiveness of such labels and more on the commonalities of having to move around, trying to fit in in a new place, etc. Or maybe I am just completely oblivious to that kind of negativity...

[goofy328]

Originally Posted by ersatz

I confess that I always fall for ClickBait articles like a ton of bricks. Shame on me. [Blush] I just clicked through The 10 Most Conservative and Liberal Cities in the USA. Virginia Beach scored as the Third Most Conservative City in the USA.

Really? I never got that impression from all the times I've visited, and I still toy with the idea of moving there. "Most conservative city" is not a selling point for me but it's no show stopper either. I just take people as I find them. My chief concern is "Are they nice good-hearted people? Or not?"

I realize the whole HR area is heavily military-dependent and that tends to skew conservative. But, really, is VB way more conservative than Kansas City KS, Houma LA, Jackson MS, or Coueur d'Alene ID? I think this article is pure BS. What do you think of VB's reputation?

No. Although they did state it was the "third most", which is interesting but I wouldn't put much thought to that article.

Yes people are good-hearted around here. But there are good-hearted people everywhere.

Interesting things about Virginia Beach I guess one would find conservative are their views on billboards. I read once somewhere that Virginia Beach does not like billboards, and tries to keep them at a minimum. You can also look at what happened back in the eighties when it used to be a spot for Greekfest and that did not pan out so well. So yes, there are things about Virginia Beach that, for a city its size, it is more suburban, laid back, and "less urban" than other places. Technically the "downtown" is an oversized mixed use lifestyle center project. You don't see that in other cities the size of Virginia Beach. Myself personally I don't necessarily see it as a bad thing, and it is what it is, but these are just little examples of how Virginia Beach is different. It sort of is a city, and sort of is a suburb. If the rest of Hampton Roads did not exist Virginia Beach would be a lot different. You would probably have more Blacks and other minorities within Virginia Beach than you do now. The way things are now, you are more apt to find higher numbers and/or percentages of minorities in the surrounding cities.

Keep in mind Hampton Roads is such a place that none of the cities would be that interesting on their own without the rest of the metro. It is the effect of having all of these cities in one huge metro that gives you a nice "good cop bad cop" experience. Like would you even have a Chesapeake without Norfolk and Portsmouth? Or what would Suffolk be like without the rest of the Southside?

Honestly Virginia Beach has something for everyone, but not a lot for any one person in particular. And it is probably for the best that it stays that way. Like for example, I thought Town Center was small for a city the size of Virginia Beach but depending on ones perspective it can be more than enough. And there are other downtown areas people can travel to. If people want a more urban experience or a more biased experience there are other cities in the area that can do that for them. If it were just Virginia Beach, and no Norfolk, no Newport News, no Portsmouth, whatever then I would pay more attention to surveys but this is a unique area that is very different for anyone to articulate, even if just looking at one city. You have to drill down to the individual neighborhoods to really understand how things work around here. I don't expect it to change. Virginia Beach can continue to build, for several decades, and I think that it would still be a really dense suburban area. Sort of how some suburbs in Texas and Atlanta are. That isn't a bad thing at all in my opinion. If you're thinking about moving here I would take that with a grain of salt and if you are already here I would still take it with a grain of salt.