Would I, as a Democrat, fit in Houston socially? (Dallas: student loans, homes)

[Mr. Krinkle]

Depends on what kind of liberal you are talking about. Houston is mainly conservative when it comes to fiscal policies, but liberal about social issues.

The hard core Rick Perry and Tea Party supporters are mainly in the rural areas.

[Mister Mister]

Originally Posted by mark7

Wow. I thought young, highly educated professionals would be almost all liberal. To hear that it's only 50-50 in Houston is not encouraging to me.

Bah, you'll be fine. Some of my best friends are pretty far right, and I'm a big Obama supporter. Christmas is always a blast. One year, a friend gave me Sarah Palin's book while I gave him "Republican Gomorrah". Although I'm sure we both re-gifted these books faster than Will Ferrell with his bread machine in "Old School", we still had a good laugh.

[HookTheBrotherUp]

Originally Posted by SteelBubble

Right, and there aren't any militant conservatives...

Ha.. yes, I should clarify... the scale of political militantcy in Houston is not on par with LA, NY or SF.

There is political activism for sure, but not like there is in those cities, and no occupations, vandalism, or assults by Liberals as you see in other cities. Conservatives don't usually resort to those tactics in Texas, or anywhere else it seems.

BTW, where did that statistic of 70% come from I wonder? Houston has not had a Conservative mayor in decades that I recall, though we've had/have independents, but I could be wrong.

[mark7]

Originally Posted by Mr. Krinkle

Depends on what kind of liberal you are talking about.

Houston is mainly conservative when it comes to fiscal policies, but liberal about social issues.

Well, I'm talking primarily about the social aspect.

[crone]

There are lots of closet liberals in the oil bidness. They just keep it to themselves. The most liberal person I ever knew was a PR person for Shell. The couple across the street work for BP. Took me 10 years to get them to say out loud they voted Democratic.

That lesbian mayor can't make up her mind about party affiliation. She confesses to being a Democrat, but she talks Republican. Guess one needs to be a member of the Chamber Of Commerce Establishment Party to be a mayor.

Come on to Houston. You will get along just fine. Just hook up with one of the many Democratic groups when you need to talk politics if you can't find one anywhere else.

[Schumacher713]

I don't think it is conservative with fiscal or social. I don't find we really vote on things that involve either locally. That is mainly at the state level where we have all the wack jobs like Perry.

[crono_clone]

Originally Posted by mark7

Wow. I thought young, highly educated professionals would be almost all liberal. To hear that it's only 50-50 in Houston is not encouraging to me.

That should be a good thing. I prefer moderates instead of the fanatics on both sides, where every issue quickly devolves into "us vs. them".

[Schumacher713]

Originally Posted by crono_clone

That should be a good thing. I prefer moderates instead of the fanatics on both sides, where every issue quickly devolves into "us vs. them".

There are no moderate conservatives left. It is probably greater than 50/50. Maybe 60/40 liberals to conservatives.

As for fiscally conservative. We passed over a billion dollars worth of bonds. We also added that flood tax thing for properties. That is not fiscally conservative. The rail system is not fiscally conservative either. I like to think of it as an investment in our future. That is fiscally liberal.

[HookTheBrotherUp]

Originally Posted by crone

That lesbian mayor can't make up her mind about party affiliation. She confesses to being a Democrat, but she talks Republican. Guess one needs to be a member of the Chamber Of Commerce Establishment Party to be a mayor.

Ha.. "that" mayor admits to being fiscally conservative, and worked for an oil related company for a decade prior to becoming mayor. She is doing a good job for Houston and is at the right place at the right time regarding the boom in Houston, and the economy... I expect her to be in some sort of higher office once she is out of the mayor's office.

[LocalPlanner]

All the generalizing here seems to be about white (or maybe Asian) ethnicities, e.g. where to live etc. Houston has large portions of its suburban area, as well as nearly the entire suburban portion (Beltway 8 corridor) of the incorporated City of Houston itself that are majority non-Anglo and vote primarily Democratic.

For example, in general, in Katy ISD, north of the Katy Freeway votes Democratic, south votes Republican. In general.

Furthermore there's areas inside the Loop that are full of conservative white folks, though I'm guessing that most politically conscious liberal-leaning whites probably gravitate inside the Loop (the near west side of inside the Loop only) and some old surburban areas just outside the Loop to the northwest and southwest.