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I lived in Oregon for 2 years and 3 months, I just left there a few weeks ago to move to Seattle. I have lived in a total of 8 States now-- Oregon ( Portland area) was by far the most conservative of the places where I've lived. I see people post online about how Progressive they are, I see the governor and one of the senator is being very liberal, but every single person that I met there was very conservative. I have had numerous situations where people told me to go back where I'm from, my workplace for those two years was very 1950s in many ways since guys pretty much did what they wanted and the woman were very humble and quiet. I found the state to be very segregated, and my roommate who happened to be gay left very soon after we initially moved because he got a lot of negativity from people. I am still dumbfounded by why this state is considered liberal or Progressive.
After recently moving to Seattle, I feel like this is a very left-leaning area and I experienced a little bit of a culture shock at how liberal it is here... hence the post. No offense to anyone. And I would not post anything like this if I had lived in Tennessee for example because it clearly has a conservative reputation, but Oregon's reputation just doesn't make any sense to me at all from my experience is there. I can see certain people dressing very hip or gothic or "liberal" but they're also very closed-minded. I was genuinely surprised that Trump didn't carry Oregon to be honest. Again I don't mean any offense I am just perplexed.
Oregon is conservative..with very liberal enclaves.. the Eugene area...along the coast and parts of Portland. Oregon gets the blue tag because population wise..a bare majority break Democratic, nationally.
Also, Oregon breaks left on some cultural issues like the min. wage and marijuana.
I always liked Oregon's solution to lobs...full service gas stations, by law. This creates thousands of min. wage jobs. I think this a remarkably pragmatic solution.
I think Oregon's independent reputation is construed as liberal..but Oregon is mostly rural, agricultural and conservative in values..if not in political choice.
I realize there are protests in Portland, carrying heavy drugs was recently decriminalized, etc. But I found the population to be much more conservative than I have personally ever experienced. I turned 40 this year. One of the most obvious examples is how segregated everyone is according to race, you just didn't see people interact very much outside of their race ( compared to other places )just for my experience. I didn't see too many openly gay people either. I would agree with EvilEyeFleegle over the other posts.
Informedprotests just because there are tons of protesters doesnt mean the place is behind other states in terms of true egalitarianism.
The combined vote in Oregon tends to be Democratic. And I remember well after the election what was painted along the highway regarding Trump that was still there months later. That being said, Seattle is certainly more liberal. Trump got only 8% of the vote in Seattle and his popularity has definitely not improved since then.
It could be like other States that are controlled by Urban areas .... who knows or really cares?
Bottom line is that a State stands on WHO they elect to run things.
By that criteria alone - Oregon is Leftist.
The people of Oregon decide these things.
I mostly agree, Seacove. My entire disagreement is with Portland's reputation for being super Progressive. Portlandia, "the People's Republic of Portland", and other such characterizations are mostly false from first-hand my experience. I think Denver probably deserves the reputation that Portland has, you definitely have a lot of strange people finding themselves there and I lived there for 8 years and it too is much more Progressive than Portland.
The Californians moving to Oregon are a mixture some are liberal some are very libertarian or alt-right. The one common trait in the Californians that I enjoyed is that they tend to be very outgoing so it's fairly easy to make friends.
I mostly agree, Seacove. My entire disagreement is with Portland's reputation for being super Progressive. Portlandia, "the People's Republic of Portland", and other such characterizations are mostly false from first-hand my experience. I think Denver probably deserves the reputation that Portland has, you definitely have a lot of strange people finding themselves there and I lived there for 8 years and it too is much more Progressive than Portland.
The Californians moving to Oregon are a mixture some are liberal some are very libertarian or alt-right. The one common trait in the Californians that I enjoyed is that they tend to be very outgoing so it's fairly easy to make friends.
I've lived in Denver too and there are conservative areas there such as Highlands Ranch. If someone lived in Highlands Ranch and made friends there they might think Denver is conservative so it's all relative. Trump lost to Hillary by ten points in Oregon which is a good example of why people think of it as liberal.
Portland, and many Cities west of the Cascades including some coastal areas are mostly liberal or vote Democrat, otherwise Oregon wouldn't have been a Blue State.
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