Which State is More Socially Conservative?

[TJ in Oregon]

I had a discussion a couple days ago with a friend from Arizona about which state is more socially conservative (fiscally is obvious). He told me, after some hesitation, Arizona.

What do the people of this forum think?

[Debs Dewey]

Arizona is becoming more of a retirement destination, and that changes the dynamic of the values. What we can see from Ohio is the reduction of the population and leaving people behind that are more socially alike. I would argue that makes it more socially conservative then Arizona.

Look at the new census info. Arizona gained one EV and congressional seat, but Ohio lost two EV and congressional seats.

[TJ in Oregon]

What we can see from Ohio is the reduction of the population and leaving people behind that are more socially alike. I would argue that makes it more socially conservative then Arizona.

Look at the new census info. Arizona gained one EV and congressional seat, but Ohio lost two EV and congressional seats.

I'm not sure this makes any sense to me. Why should we think the people leaving Ohio are more socially liberal than those who are not? I can understand why Arizona getting retirees would make it more socially conservative (more elderly). Yes, I'm well aware Ohio is losing two seats and Arizona is gaining one, but how is that relevant?

[freepcrusher]

Ohio is probably more socially conservative. There aren't any socially liberal areas in Ohio but in Arizona you have Flagstaff and Tucson which have a large bohemian population. You can't find anywhere like that in Ohio. There also aren't any overly socially conservative areas in AZ save for maybe Gilbert while there are a lot of really socon areas in Ohio.

[Wonkish1]

Ohio is probably more socially conservative. There aren't any socially liberal areas in Ohio but in Arizona you have Flagstaff and Tucson which have a large bohemian population. You can't find anywhere like that in Ohio. There also aren't any overly socially conservative areas in AZ save for maybe Gilbert while there are a lot of really socon areas in Ohio.

Then how was Kucinich elected in Ohio?

Not off of his social liberalism that is for sure. He got elected out of very, very strong union strength first as mayor of Cleveland. In 2 years he managed to put the city in default. And the mafia was trying to kill him, LOL.

[TJ in Oregon]

Ohio is probably more socially conservative. There aren't any socially liberal areas in Ohio but in Arizona you have Flagstaff and Tucson which have a large bohemian population. You can't find anywhere like that in Ohio. There also aren't any overly socially conservative areas in AZ save for maybe Gilbert while there are a lot of really socon areas in Ohio.

Then how was Kucinich elected in Ohio?

Not off of his social liberalism that is for sure. He got elected out of very, very strong union strength first as mayor of Cleveland. In 2 years he managed to put the city in default. And the mafia was trying to kill him, LOL.

There are socially liberal enclaves in Ohio, but Kucinich's district isn't one of them. Dennis Kucinich was elected out of populist-styled union Democrat support as a pro-lifer (formerly) out of nostalgic memory of Kucinich saving the Municipal Lighting Corp in the late 70's. His local base is completely different from his national base and is primarily blue collar Catholic old-timers who remember him showing up at like 3am to protest the closing of a factory or hospital or something when no other politicians seem to care. These types of people have a long memory of past years and tend not to notice the nutcase Dennis! has become recently.

The socially liberal enclaves in Ohio are located on the other side of Cleveland where we have a sort of aging hippy presence that no once notices because it's in a VRA black district. Everyone outside the Cleveland area assumes the west side of Cleveland is the liberal side and the east side is just Democratic because it has blacks, when that's completely wrong. I'd guess about 75% of the white people on the east side voted for Obama while Kucinich's district only did with 58% overall. Over here in Cleveland Heights on the east side we have a bunch of 70-year-old hippies and even a Communist bookstore!

The other socially liberal enclaves in Ohio are Columbus (though not to the degree most of the liberals on this forum would be satisfied with), Athens, and an assortment of other towns too small to matter state-wide. But three are significant: eastern Cleveland, Columbus, and Athens.

[TJ in Oregon]

Not off of his social liberalism that is for sure. He got elected out of very, very strong union strength first as mayor of Cleveland. In 2 years he managed to put the city in default. And the mafia was trying to kill him, LOL.

...and yes, the mafia was trying to kill him, and there were race riots against him as well. But, both the Italians, and the blacks live on the other side of the river, away from OH-10.

This is actually a huge part of the reason why George Voinovich was able to become so incredibly popular: Kucinich ticked off important parts of the Democratic base (the Italians not so much today but were in the late 70's). I still hear black people saying things about how they don't trust Republicans and occasionally adding "except George Voinovich" to the end of it.

[5280]

I would say Ohio has the lead by a hair.