Why are Western Coast whites so Democratic?

[phk]

Liberal Whites moved to the West Coast in the 1960s/1970s.

[phk]

Liberal Whites moved to the West Coast in the 1960s/1970s.

It's not only that. California was solidly Republican until the 80s, and it still has a huge military industrial complex. I think it also has to do to a large degree with older, more conservative whites retiring to Arizona, Texas, or Florida, changing their views, or dying off.

Oh good point. A lot of jobs in Southern California were supported by high defense spending in the Cold War.

The 1990-1991 recession coupled with defense spending cuts basically ended a lot of jobs and with that. An outflux of conservative Whites to NV, AZ, ID, UT, WY, etc.

[phk]

I know liberal whites moved to some Western cities like San Francisco and Portland, but even the non-urban coastal areas(and hinterland to a not insignificant degree) have that. This particularly apparent in Northwest Cali and Western Washington.

I mean if that's the reason OK, but I thought their might be something about the economic nature of coastal areas as well(which seem disproportionately left wing, and not just in America).

They were a lot more moderated while the Cold War went on.

It's not economic reasons that make them left-wing but more like lack of economic reasons to make them right-wing.

[phk]

Having lived on both the East Coast and the West Coast I would say that people on the West Coast are a lot more open minded.  It feels like an entirely different country.  If California, Oregon, Washington and Hawaii seceded and formed a new country, they would be the best country in the world by far.

I wish the West coast would leave the country.

That would be a third world country, not the best country in the world

In case you didn't notice, California is a banana republic now thanks to liberalism

How stupid are you? California gives out more in income taxes than it gets back. The reverse is true of the Republican rural welfare states.

Actually this is basically a long running misconception. The GOP voters in those state's are not being net subsidized or as net subsdized as the Democrats.

Reason why many GOP states receive federal funding is for a few main reasons though.

1.) Military bases. Federal funding for Northern states declined as military bases were being consistently shutdown throughout the 1990s. New bases opened up in more rural and more Southern states, which is better for year-round operations anyway.

2.) National Parks such as Yellowstone and Grand Canyon. In general more land tends to be federally owned in the West than it does in the East thus shifting the costs to the Federal government.

3.) Minority communities who vote heavily Democratic. Shannon County, South Dakota; South Texas; Black Belt.

4.)2004 Bush States have over four times the length of Federal Highways to maintain than they do in 2004 Kerry States.