Which state is more socially liberal?

[TDAS04]

Well?

[TDAS04]

This isn't even complicated. Which one has major universities and cities over 500K people?

Obama did much worse among Georgia whites than among West Virginia whites.  That doesn't mean everything, but WV still has more whites willing to vote Democratic, and WV has historically not been as racist.  In additon, a large black population does not help make Georgia more pro-gay or less religious.  Also, rural does not automatically mean socially conservative (look at Vermont).

[TDAS04]

Georgia, despite Southern and Northern Georgia. Georgia generally has a growing, younger crowd that is going to be more socially liberal than not. That crowd hasn't taken over Georgia (or anything close to take over) but there are simply more of them than in West Virginia. West Virginia is generally an older, whiter, and non-growing state that has shown almost no progress towards any liberal policies.

True, Georgia is trending that way, and West Virginia is not, but I think it's a close call now.

[TDAS04]

Most here think Georgia, probably because of Atlanta.  I agree that in the future it will obviously be Georgia; the growing diversity will eventually impact the state's social and political character, while heavily-rural West Virginia is trending more conservative relative to other parts of the country.

However, I still think that rural Georgia is obviously more socially conservative than rural West Virginia.

[TDAS04]

Georgia has cities like Atlanta, Athens, ect.

West Virginia only really has Charleston, which is about as conservative as the rest of the state.


If a vote on gay marriage was held in Georgia and West Virginia. I'd expect around 45% support in Georgia, but only ~30% in West Virginia.

Not likely.