Cog wrote:Newfie wrote:Are there ANY red cities?
Why is that when population densities reach a certain value, does the population generally vote Democrat? I'm sure liberals would say because they are more intelligent and caring but I have not seen this to be true.
I think much of the difference is psychological make-up.
Most folks who live out in the boonies have to take care of themselves, at least to a certain extent. Even if they get government checks, they're more spread out, they have to drive more, they have to take care of more things re lack of convenient close services, etc. -- on average, of course.
Also, when polled, liberals tend to be more about sharing ideas.
This isn't just intuition. I have friends who argue about politics all the time, and one of them reads a lot of books where studies, surveys, etc. are done. And he values objectivity over partisanship, so he's not (only) reading extremist books for such data.
So while there could well be many overall reasons, surveys/studies say that relative level of independence in thinking is a strong differentiator between GOP and Dem thinking.
And it's not that big a stretch to imagine that some of that bleeds into where people decide to live, re more convenience or more independence (at a cost of more isolation).
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Note that I'm saying nothing about right or wrong, or good or bad -- just different, and I find myself sandwiched right in the middle, based on overall ideology, and where I prefer to live (small city or large town), based on my personality, experience, etc.
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I was trying to think of some likely red US city examples, but wanted data, not conjecture. (I thought of Salt Lake City and Austin Texas as perhaps, decent reddish city candidates, off the top). And my guesses certainly didn't make the top 10, per the list below.
Forbes has a slideshow, supposedly reflecting a list from "The Economist" (a publication I respect and keep meaning to re-subscribe to, and then am reminded of the price).
They list from most red as:
1. Mesa, AZ
2. Oklahoma City, OK
3. Virginia Beach, VA
4. Colorado Springs, CO
5. Jacksonville, FL
6. Arlington, TX
7. Anaheim, CA (This blows me away, re my preconceptions)
8. Omaha, NE
9. Tulsa, OK
10. Aurora, CO
And 90% of the most liberal list was the usual suspects, FWIW.
https://www.forbes.com/pictures/gfii45i ... 7cd0e8792aEdits:
The Economist piece I find for this is dated 2014, since I didn't see a date given in the Forbes summary, but now I see a fine print notation on the chart saying the data is 2011 or later.
Ah, you can see the chart at that link. (I had assumed it would be hidden behind a paywall, my bad).
https://www.economist.com/graphic-detai ... ideologies
Given the track record of the perma-doomer blogs, I wouldn't bet a fast crash doomer's money on their predictions.