Is Iowa Liberal? (Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Davenport: houses, taxes, fence)

[mackinac81]

This might be a dumb question, but I've got to ask this, as someone who's really into politics.

Except for 2004, Iowa always voted Democrat for President since 1976. (Even in '04 it was extremely close) But it doesn't fit the media's stereotype of a "blue" state. It's not California, It's not Massachusetts, it's very...well...midwestern, and when I look at the Plains states, they're EXTREMELY red. I've been puzzled by this.

So my question is, what is Iowa more liberal than other midwestern states? And what exactly do Iowans see in the Democrats that others in the region don't? I could ask the same for Minnesota and Wisconsin, but I thought I'd pick on you guys

For the record, I'm an independent. I'm just curious.

Thanks!

Mackinac

[Northern Traveler]

Morally conservative, I would say - overall.

A republican here for the record.

[QuadCityImages]

The state changes from red to blue as you go from west to east. The east side of the state is pretty liberal, and the west side is pretty conservative. As they do almost everywhere, most of the urban areas tend to vote Democratic, and rural areas Republican.

One thing I like as an Independent is that Iowa seems to have a mixture of liberal and conservative feelings. For example, we have no death penalty, which could be considered a very liberal stance, but we have few restrictions on gun ownership (especially compared to Illinois) which could be called a conservative stance. So I guess I'd call us a purple state.

[tollfree]

Scott (Davenport) and Polk (Des Moines) Counties both went 57% for Obama.

Linn (Cedar Rapids) went 60% in favor of Obama.

Johnson (Iowa City) went 70% in favor of Obama. It's always been the only truly "progressive liberal" place in Iowa, and will probably be that way forever. Anyways, Eastern Iowa is largely recognized as being more democratic.

[CrazyHorsePete]

This is a great question/thread. Eastern Iowa is probably more democratic overall due to more urban areas than Western Iowa. Cedar Rapids, Dubuque, Iowa City, Quad Cities, and Waterloo are all in Eastern Iowa. The only urban areas in Western Iowa are Council Bluffs and Sioux City. Des Moines is in the middle. I wonder if Iowa changes politically from north to south. If so, how many different sections would exist, and where would the dividing lines be drawn?

-Maybe two sections, north of US 30 and south of US 30?
-Three sections, Minnesota border to US 20, US 20 to I-80, I-80 to the Missouri line?

Very interesting thread.

[Chicago60614]

It's a fairly noticed change from east to west. Even all the rural counties in the northeast quadrant are all very democratic. The western part of the state is much less populated, and much more republican.

The colors here are actually switched from what we think of most of the time. Blue is republican, red is democratic. Don't ask me why they switched them...

[GraniteStater]

Originally Posted by Chicago60614

It's a fairly noticed change from east to west. Even all the rural counties in the northeast quadrant are all very democratic. The western part of the state is much less populated, and much more republican.

The colors here are actually switched from what we think of most of the time. Blue is republican, red is democratic. Don't ask me why they switched them...

It is interesting how all of the southern border counties in Iowa are Republican. Rural Iowa is much more liberal compared with rural Missouri IMO.

[iowegian]

Oh wow, I thought Hell had frozen over when I saw Johnson County colored red. Bizarre map.

Despite the fact that much of eastern Iowa's rural areas went for Democrats, I still don't think I'd label Iowa as a "liberal state." I think in most Iowan small towns, you'd still find people to be very socially conservative, at least. I'm comfortable labeling all of Iowa's larger cities as liberal (except Sioux City and Council Bluffs, which I do not understand) but not small towns. There are many anti-abortion, pro-gun rights people in rural Iowa that do not fit with liberal social ideas. I like QCImages' description of us as a "purple state." I honestly think that's the most accurate political description you'll get. We're very much a swing state.

[mofford]

I believe Iowa should take the middle road when it comes to politics. It will hurt our status for having the first caucus on election years. There's not a big problem with leaning twards the left when the rest of the country is doing the same. However, at some point we need to steer a center course once again or expect red states to stongly oppose our first selection of the presidential candidates.

For decades we had a republican governor to maintain a balance of power with the best tool at hand, his veto. I hate to see the democrats falling into that old "tax and spend" stereotype, but over the past few years thats what they seem to be all about. In fact, they sometimes got it backwards and spent money that wasn't there first, and then passed taxes to cover the budget shortfall.

I support Steve King (R) for governor, 2010. You won't see this guy crying and throwing a fit (Vilsack) when the INS comes to haul off illegals at the meat packing plant. You won't catch him on the news with a Culver soundbite like "Anything that brings in more revenue for the state government, well, I'm all for it"

Both houses at the capitol building are packed with democrats, and you can rest assured that if King was in office there would be no more tax/spending increases. And you can bet the lottery won't be sold off to cover another butget problem, either. Perhaps the republicans have not done such a good job for us at the national level the past several years (excluding Grassley), but we still need some of them at the local level to provide us with responsible state government.

[DMRyan]

Most on both sides of the fence would agree that Governor Culver is pretty much a tool box. Very dissapointing after the Vilsack years.

I'm sure Democrats in Iowa would be licking their chops at the prospect of having Steve King be the Republican's choice for their ticket at the next Governor's election. Talk about a landslide victory...