Should conservatives be in closer proximity to each other? (Congress, legal, racist)
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so basically urban areas with better education are mostly democrat. not a surprise at all.
New england is pretty much 100% democrat :O
Most areas aren't hugely skewed in favor of one or the other. I mean, yes, urban areas are mostly Democratic in voting, but there are so many people in urban areas, you'll find a good number of Republicans in any given urban area as well.
Also, some of the best-educated counties in the country are strongly Republican (Douglas County, CO being a good example). It really depends.
somebody can agree with the GOP more than Dems, but not want to live in bland suburbia. The "Michael Savage" persona cited in the OP is a perfect example.
Do you think that so many Americans have quit their job and sold their house and uprooted their family, just in order to live in an area where there were 55% instead of 45% sharing their political viewpoint? That Oklahoma is so full of people fleeing from Massachusetts who got fed up with liberals shopping at their WalMart, that it has made Oklahoma a red state?
Often conservatives flee liberal places like parts of California or the West Coast cities for more rural or places(including suburban counties on the outskirts of large cities) with lower taxes and more conservative government policies(or without minorities). Go up to Idaho or parts of Nevada, there's a ton of Republicans there who've relocated to get away from what they see as a liberal state government or policies in places like California or Oregon--occasionally they are even more steadfast conservatives than locals. This I know from first hand experience, because many of my relatives from California left for other states in part for that reason. Sure of course, many people are born in more conservative areas and are bound to be conservative because that's the local culture---however it's not that cut and dried for every situation.
I think the OP is on to something as far as close proximity. Liberals are in very close proximity to each other in many of the urban areas. These areas don't just lean left, but are overwhelmingly and in some cases almost exclusively liberal in their voting patterns. Conservative areas not as much.
For instance, San Francisco and Seattle vote 80% to 90% Democrat, indeed, most cities do, but if you go to the suburban or rural areas, do they vote 80% to 90% Republican? Most voting statistcs I have seen say no. Even the most conservative rural areas tend to vote no more than about 70% Republican. So there a fair number of democrats even in republican voting counties.
So, the red counties you see on that map in post #2 are not as red as the blue counties are blue. I think this also leads to liberals having less exposure to conservative viewpoints because they are so densely packed among themselves. Conservatives, being more spread out evenly tend to have more exposure Democrats and liberals than vise versa.
As people have noted, the trends are not universal. Nonwhite rural areas, along with some rural portions of the northeast and upper midwest, lean to the left. Admittedly, it's harder to find conservative urban areas. The only I'm aware of are the ultra-orthodox communities in the NYC area.
I think there's a couple of inter-related things which cause the pattern of rural area tending to be conservative, and cities tending to be liberal.
1. I think cities tend to make people more liberal to an extent, at least socially, as you can't help but be exposed to people with different ideas, religions, economic backgrounds, etc.
2. Liberal people who grow up in the country tend to be unsatisfied with their hometowns and head for the city. The reverse doesn't seem to happen as much with conservatives, even if they grow up in podunk liberal places.
3. Conservatives avoid migrating to the city due to a whole series of preconceptions. I'm not going to go into them now, because I don't want to start a flame war.
That said, there are undoubtedly conservative cities. Places like Colorado Springs, for example. Cities which grew up around military installations, like San Diego, leaned right as well, although that's changing. Most of these areas have a lot of suburban zones within their city limits, however, which means they aren't a "city" in the classic sense.
Even in overwhelmingly white areas, which tend to be conservative, the cities will always be a little more liberal, because the liberal locals tend to relocate there, as do out-of-staters who don't fit in with local culture.
You forgot about Utah. Utah county, Provo area, is probably the most conservative metro area in the US. And by conservative we are talking "socially conservative," extremely Mormon. Just look at the demographics that defy reality. 35% of the population is under age 18 in a county with nearly 600,000 people. So, population growth alone is very similar to that of a developing country.
Most areas aren't hugely skewed in favor of one or the other. I mean, yes, urban areas are mostly Democratic in voting, but there are so many people in urban areas, you'll find a good number of Republicans in any given urban area as well.
Also, some of the best-educated counties in the country are strongly Republican (Douglas County, CO being a good example). It really depends.
Don't generalize so much.
Douglas County is an outlier because nearly all of its growth has occurred in a few decades and it leans very heavily toward the corporate country club demographic. I guess a similar match for Douglas County, CO would be Johnson County, KS.
This is just a hunch, but maybe conservatives tend to like living in the wide open spaces...or maybe liberals tend to like living in cities.
Living in a place where many or most people are one or the other may skew the way you view the world. From the time I was about five, I grew up in a very heavily Democratic city. Then I went away to college in New England and was around lots of WASPy Republicans. I had always heard of Republicans, but I never believed there were so many of them until I went away.
Douglas County is an outlier because nearly all of its growth has occurred in a few decades and it leans very heavily toward the corporate country club demographic. I guess a similar match for Douglas County, CO would be Johnson County, KS.
Ah, yes. Good points. Also, Douglas County has a lot of families with young children in many of its suburbs, which translates into (relative) cultural conservatism.
I'm a conservative living in the shadow of San Francisco. I'm doing fine.
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