Safe Republican States

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Basically, the safe vote for Republicans is the rural vote.  Find a state that has a larger rural population than urban and more than likely it'll be a safe Republican state.  Republicans have been cultivating the rural vote for decades now, and up until recently it paid off for them.  Even on a state level, in Presidential elections, rural counties most often always go to the Republican candidate, regardless of what state they're in.

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These are the states that I think are fairly safe for Republicans for at least the next decade or so in a generic election.  The darker blues are the ones that they should have to put almost no effort to win and the light blues are the ones they'll probably need to pay just a little attention to just to be on the safe side.  This is probably the base that Republican strategists start off with at the beginning of every election cycle.

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One big thing when looking at the internal geographics of these states is that hardly anyone lives there. With a lesser population, things don't become as political and therefore there isn't a high demand for structure and policy. People have their elbow space and prefer this way of life. Guns and religion are what they have as essentials.

Really, that's the biggest factor.  Rural communities have a greater sense of individualism and put more importance on personal freedoms.  Also, for such spread out communities it's hard for their local government to offer very many practical services.  Because of this, they tend to like very limited government involvement in their lives.  That's Republicans.

*and you could probably also argue that they are a lot less demographically diverse, which might lead them to put little importance on government intervention to promote and support minority groups.

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Would any of you like to live in these states?

I'd love to.  I grew up in a rural part of a rural state and like the peace and quiet that comes with it.  Even though I think I'd miss having three grocery stores, plus a Target, Wal-Mart, and Lowes all within a 5 min. drive.  I remember growing up and the closest store was a tiny mom and pop all purpose store, and it was 15 min. away.  If you wanted to go to a big chain grocery store or Wal-Mart, it was another 15 min. drive past that.

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What state was that? Did you know that 90% of Americans live within 15 minutes of a Walmart?

NE corner of Mississippi.  Practically on the state line with Alabama.  You also have to remember that this was during the 70's and 80's, but the closest Walmart is still just over a 30 min. drive.