Phoenix and Arizona is Blue (Tucson, Chandler: how much, house, school)

[barca12]

It is final. Biden has won Arizona. He has mathematically eliminated Donald Trump and all media sources have now declared Biden the winner. Biden leads by over 11,000 votes and there are 10,000 votes left to count. The majority of votes in Maricopa County were for Biden.

This thread is not about politics; it is about our city and state's culture being misrepresented for years. Regardless of your beliefs, I think all of us can agree that Arizona is not how the media has depicted the state for the past 10-15 years. Those of us who live here have always recognized our state to be independent with a mixture of views that include ideology from both parties. Yet the media depicted Arizona as a far right state, and not just far right but among the most conservative states in the country. For those of us who live here, it's always been a gross mischaracterization. We could never prove it. Our evidence was anecdotal at best. That is until now We voted for a Democratic President. We passed an increase in our state income tax. We legalized recreational marijuana. We voted for two Democratic US Senators. You cannot be a far right state and have these things occur.

I want to finish by saying that I hope all of you are in good spirits and staying safe. I hope you and your loved ones are healthy and doing well.

[DetroitN8V]

Joe Arpaio is a large reason why we had the racist hillbilly reputation. Add one more accomplishment to your list. We rejected his protege and re-elected our Democrat sheriff.

[barca12]

Originally Posted by DetroitN8V

Joe Arpaio is a large reason why we had the racist hillbilly reputation. Add one more accomplishment to your list. We rejected his protege and re-elected our Democrat sheriff.

Yes Arpaio and Prop 1070. There were many boycotts by musicians and national organizations refusing to host their convention here.

[Valley Native]

Correction: Phoenix as a city is blueISH (and getting bluer), but Arizona as a state has plenty of staunch Republican areas, including Yavapai County, Mohave County, and even a few Phoenix suburbs. With that said, Arizona as a whole is not far right or deep red as some have speculated. At the same time, claiming Arizona is a blue state is also false. Aside from the changing demographics, one of the reasons Biden won AZ is Trump's absurd hatred of John McCain. If Trump was more of a mainstream or moderate Republican, he would have easily won here, and possibly even won a second term.

[barca12]

Originally Posted by Valley Native

Correction: Phoenix as a city is blueISH (and getting bluer), but Arizona as a state has plenty of staunch Republican areas, including Yavapai County, Mohave County, and even a few Phoenix suburbs. With that said, Arizona as a whole is not far right or deep red as some have speculated. At the same time, claiming Arizona is a blue state is also false. Aside from the changing demographics, one of the reasons Biden won AZ is Trump's absurd hatred of John McCain. If Trump was more of a mainstream or moderate Republican, he would have easily won here, and possibly even won a second term.

I agree and disagree. I agree that Trump was a unique Republican candidate that didn't resonate with all Republicans. He didn't just upset McCain voters but Flake voters as well. And if another Republican ran, it's likely Arizona would have voted for a Republican.

At the same time, over 80 % of the states' population live in Maricopa (Phoenix), Pima (Tucson) and Coconino (Flagstaff) counties, and they all voted for Biden Something else to consider, Arizona registered more voters for this election. In 2016, 400,000 eligible Hispanic voters did not participate. Hispanics American voters in Arizona tend to be Democrats. What is the moral? We've always had more Democrats that simply didn't vote in the past. And two Democrats won US Senate positions, one of which is openly bisexual.

What surprised me was the passage of Prop 208. Arizonans are pretty conservative with regard to passing tax increases. 208 passed comfortably meaning a lot of Republicans voted for it. That just would not happen in states like Texas or even Florida. It just reinforces the idea that Arizona is very unique and has a political identity of its own.What also surprised me is prop 207 did not just pass but it passed by some 700,000 votes. I thought it would be much closer given what happened in 2016.

Regardless, I think we can all agree we are probably purple or somewhere in between and definitely not on the far right like the media portrayed us for years.

[grad_student200]

Originally Posted by Valley Native

Correction: Phoenix as a city is blueISH (and getting bluer), but Arizona as a state has plenty of staunch Republican areas, including Yavapai County, Mohave County, and even a few Phoenix suburbs. With that said, Arizona as a whole is not far right or deep red as some have speculated. At the same time, claiming Arizona is a blue state is also false. Aside from the changing demographics, one of the reasons Biden won AZ is Trump's absurd hatred of John McCain. If Trump was more of a mainstream or moderate Republican, he would have easily won here, and possibly even won a second term.

Yes, I studied GIS mapping in graduate school. When the election counts were analyzed, it was clear Phoenix did have some red areas if you break it down by zip codes. Sun City and Apache Junction or Gilbert could be more conservative than Chandler and Tempe or downtown Phoenix. There is a variation within the city since it has gotten so large.

Rural AZ is clearly embedded with many deeply red counties. Show Low, Safford, Globe, St. John's etc. have fairly active, conservative Christian communities like Mormons, Catholics, Baptists, etc.

[grad_student200]

Originally Posted by barca12

Yes Arpaio and Prop 1070. There were many boycotts by musicians and national organizations refusing to host their convention here.

I understand that Sheriff Joe lost his case regarding racism against Mexicans. But to me, he was actually liberal for his age group in Arizona. I am a pure Arizonan and know how much worse the truly brutal, racist cops were of his generation. If you go back to 1940s rural AZ, Sheriff Joe would've actually been a relatively nice guy compared to the racist cops from that generation who were really, really bad.

[Ponderosa]

Purple maybe but not blue, not yet. Arizona has been center right for decades and still is. Downballot was pretty red this time, likely a consequence of the huge turnout for Trump (Yavapai was nearly 90%, Maricopa 80%+). The Phoenix metro is further along the spectrum than the rest of the state, but unless the Dems swing too far left, it's a matter of time.

[Bondurant]

Another one of these threads, eh?

[Zenstyle]

Joe Arpaio is a large reason why we had the racist hillbilly reputation

In addition to that wackazoid goverernor you had in the ‘80s—90’s who refused to recognize MLK Day, as well as the gov, “The Pointer” who stuck her finger in Prez. Obama’s sternum and sassed him (Brewer, I think her name was.) Because of these specimens of righteousness, Arizonans deserve a little of their Neanderthal reputation.
But clearly, those clouds are lifting a bit, I”m happy to see...old people die and take their ways of thinking with them...new blood moves in, looks around and says, “you’ve got to be kidding” and votes accordingly.
Addendum: it certainly didn’t help that the White House squatter repeatedly shat on native son John McCain’s memory.