top 5 conservative, liberal states

[dazzleman]

Everybody is basically coming up with the same states, and that makes sense.

I would consider adding Illinois to the list of the most liberal states, at this point.  It is becoming like California and New York, with the politics of the state being poisoned by overwhelming Democratic voting in the major urban center(s).

I would also remove Minnesota from the list of most liberal states.  Minnesota was liberal in the old New Deal sense but is moving in the direction of becoming more conservative.

I don't think I'd consider Connecticut one of the top 5 liberal states.  It is more moderate than its neighbors, mainly because it lacks a large urban center population-wise.  Unfortunately, it is definitely one of the more liberal states, however.

[dazzleman]

let not just look at how they vote for presdient... look at how they vote within the state.

The way they vote for president is the best indicator of where they fall within the national context.

State parties can be significantly out of step with the national parties.  As an example, most northeastern states right now have Republican governors.  The state Republican parties are much more liberal than the national party, so it's hard to make a comparison on that basis.  There are probably many northeastern Republicans who are more liberal than many southern Democrats.

[dazzleman]

let not just look at how they vote for presdient... look at how they vote within the state.

The way they vote for president is the best indicator of where they fall within the national context.

State parties can be significantly out of step with the national parties.  As an example, most northeastern states right now have Republican governors.  The state Republican parties are much more liberal than the national party, so it's hard to make a comparison on that basis.  There are probably many northeastern Republicans who are more liberal than many southern Democrats.

well what I am talking about is for ex: NC don't have a lotter(howevery yo spell it) but SC does...

It's hard to say.  Politics is very contradictory.  As an example, New York is one of the hardest states in which to get a contested divorce.  Yet it is one of the most liberal states.  Oklahoma I believe, a solid Republican state, has the highest divorce rate.  And the bible belt states of the south have some of the highest rates of illegitimacy and teen pregnancy.

There are many contradictory indicators.

[dazzleman]

Washington is like a lot of states, with a huge split between a major urban center and its suburbs (Seattle) and the rest of the state, which is largely rural.

What has changed is that (a) while the cities have generally always voted Democratic, they now vote more overwhelmingly Democratic that before; (b) the suburbs which used to lean Republican now lean more Democratic, though not so much as the cities, usually; and (c) the rural areas, which used to be more mixed, are becoming more and more heavily Republican.

It seems that only the northeast states like Vermont, Maine, etc. have rural areas that are Democratic.  In most of the rest of the country, rural = conservative.

Washington has become more liberal as the trends I mentioned have set in.  But it is not as liberal as northeastern states like New York, Massachusetts, etc. because those states lack real conservative rural areas to the same degree that Washington has.

[dazzleman]

Rhode Island isn't all that liberal either

Rhode Island is a hard state to figure out.  A while back, I asked why, in 1980, Massachusetts went for Ronald Reagan, while Rhode Island stuck with Jimmy Carter, especially when the 1972 results were reversed.

A poster responded with a well-reasoned post that basically said that Rhode Island had more traditional type Democrats than Massachusetts, who were essentially more Democratic than liberal.

It would be interesting to hear you elaborate on your statement about Rhode Island because it's hard not to consider that state liberal, with its voting record.  Despite its location right next to my state, it's not a state I know well.  I don't think it has many rural areas; it seems mostly urban and suburban.  I've really only driven through it.

[dazzleman]

General statement only. 

I recognize that there are Democratic rural areas in other states.  However, GENERALLY, rural areas are conservative outside the northeast.  I was contrasting Washington state, with its very conservative eastern section akin to Idaho, with states like Vermont, Maine, Massachusetts which have no real conservative strongholds.

[dazzleman]

It is interesting that the 'most liberal' states on everyone's lists are expensive and sought after, while the 'most conservative' are generally cheap backwaters.  Coincidence?  I think not.

There was a big article in my local paper yesterday about the "brain drain" from Connecticut - how the most talented young people are leaving because of the high cost of living and relative lack of higher level jobs for them here.

I know you're not capable of departing from your new hymnal, but my theory is that the politics of the more populated coastal states, as opposed to states with more open states, are driven by the lack of available land for development in those states.

Democratic politics is of a more redistributive nature, while Republican politics is more oriented toward expanding the overall size of the economic pie so that everyone can have a bigger piece.  In states that are highly developed, where the cost of living is high because there is little available land to build additional housing, and where any population expansion must effectively displace that which is already there, the overall atmosphere tends much more in the redistributive direction.  But in places where there is plenty of room for expansion, and the cost of living remains lower as a result, Republican policies have more credence.