What misconceptions do people have about the state/district you live in?

[ProgressiveModerate]

For me, I live in NY(C), but spend quite a bit of time in NJ. NY and NJ will NOT swing right under most circumstances. I don't understand this narrative about NJ trending right and becoming a swing state down the road. NJ really hates Trump, heck, in 2018, they elected Bob Menendez by 12 points. The suburban areas of NJ hate Trump, and the urban areas are growing. If the GOP continues down the road of Trumpism, no way NJ becomes a swing state anytime soon. I also bet that Democrats in the house will win by cushy margins in NJ, and VanDrew could definately lose as an R. As for NY, the vote in NYC will more than cancel out the vote from upstate

[Ferguson97]

Also from NJ. People REALLY hate Trump here. My specific town is quite conservative, but I think it's going to be a long, long time before we ever elect a Republican statewide again.

MAYBE if Hillary was in the WH in '18, then MAYBE Hugin could have beaten Menendez, but even then I don't think he could've.

[Lambsbread]

That we are all Amish and all support Trump.

[Xing]

That we're simultaneously Socialist/Communist and Neoliberal/Fiscally Conservative. People either think Washington is "the VT of the West" and "quite moderate compared to other Democratic states" without much in-between. People accurately claim that WA is a blue state, but some have this strange idea that it will trend Republican because it's "mostly white" or because it's "economically moderate" and that voters here will start voting Republican if Democrats move to the left on economic issues. Interpretations of primary results is also quite bad, and fits into the idea that people think WA is either extremely socialist or extremely moderate.

[jake_arlington]

We have hairy legs.

[Orser67]

I'm not from the Midwest, dammit

[Progressive Pessimist]

Also from NJ. People REALLY hate Trump here. My specific town is quite conservative, but I think it's going to be a long, long time before we ever elect a Republican statewide again.

MAYBE if Hillary was in the WH in '18, then MAYBE Hugin could have beaten Menendez, but even then I don't think he could've.

Seconded, right down to my town being slightly conservative (Republican presidential candidates always narrowly win here, but it's swingier at the state and local levels).

By the way, I think Menendez still would have beat Hugin in a Clinton midterm, albeit by an even narrower margin.

[Ferguson97]

Also from NJ. People REALLY hate Trump here. My specific town is quite conservative, but I think it's going to be a long, long time before we ever elect a Republican statewide again.

MAYBE if Hillary was in the WH in '18, then MAYBE Hugin could have beaten Menendez, but even then I don't think he could've.

Seconded, right down to my town being slightly conservative (Republican presidential candidates always narrowly win here, but it's swingier at the state and local levels).

By the way, I think Menendez still would have beat Hugin in a Clinton midterm, albeit by an even narrower margin.

Hugin would've been a perfect candidate for a Clinton midterm too. Pro-choice and pro-gay marriage. Menendez has the corruption allegations.

[DINGO Joe]

That we are all Amish and all support Trump.

Of course not, there are also the Mennonites that exploit the Amish for profit and support Trump.

[Lord Admirale]

The only circumstances I see New Jersey becoming swingy is in a generation when the GOP will be forced to be kind to people of color as America becomes majority nonwhite. Keep in mind that the Democratic Party went from having a powerful segregationist arm to winning the overwhelming majority of African-Americans in a few elections.  

Also, for New Jersey, we’re not all assholes. (I can't comment on Florida because I haven't been here long enough)

[Lord Admirale]

Also from NJ. People REALLY hate Trump here. My specific town is quite conservative, but I think it's going to be a long, long time before we ever elect a Republican statewide again.

MAYBE if Hillary was in the WH in '18, then MAYBE Hugin could have beaten Menendez, but even then I don't think he could've.

Seconded, right down to my town being slightly conservative (Republican presidential candidates always narrowly win here, but it's swingier at the state and local levels).

By the way, I think Menendez still would have beat Hugin in a Clinton midterm, albeit by an even narrower margin.

Hugin would've been a perfect candidate for a Clinton midterm too. Pro-choice and pro-gay marriage. Menendez has the corruption allegations.

Either him or Tom Kean, I think Kean was gonna run until Trump won the election.

[Ferguson97]

Also from NJ. People REALLY hate Trump here. My specific town is quite conservative, but I think it's going to be a long, long time before we ever elect a Republican statewide again.

MAYBE if Hillary was in the WH in '18, then MAYBE Hugin could have beaten Menendez, but even then I don't think he could've.

Seconded, right down to my town being slightly conservative (Republican presidential candidates always narrowly win here, but it's swingier at the state and local levels).

By the way, I think Menendez still would have beat Hugin in a Clinton midterm, albeit by an even narrower margin.

Hugin would've been a perfect candidate for a Clinton midterm too. Pro-choice and pro-gay marriage. Menendez has the corruption allegations.

Either him or Tom Kean, I think Kean was gonna run until Trump won the election.

I imagine Kean is gonna make a go for Governor in 2021.

[Illini Moderate]

That we are a liberal state. The Chicago area is. Most of the rest of the state is not.

[pbrower2a]

Michigan: that the whole state is like Detroit or Flint.

[RINO Tom]

That we are a liberal state. The Chicago area is. Most of the rest of the state is not.

I'll respond to this before I post my own.  The Chicago area is likely "center-left" overall, IMO ... with Chicago being "liberal," and the suburbs being "center to center-left" overall (Barrington =/= Evanston, after all).  I would have no problem calling Downstate places like Champaign "liberal," and you could likely throw in some other Downstate locales, too.

Anyway, my answer for both my city and state:

Chicago: I'm a bit newer to Chicago, so my answer is less sure.  However, I would say that the biggest misconception is that Chicago's Democratic support is evenly spread out.  This especially manifests itself with people thinking that in the parts of Chicago they are familiar with (the neighborhoods in and surrounding downtown), you would feel like you were on the moon as a Republican.  The city itself voted for Clinton 83.7% to 12.5%.  However, there are wards and precincts on the south and west side of the city that literally gave Trump under 2% ... the "political feel" in many of the neighborhoods that people associate with Chicago is undeniably "liberal," but it's not like that, haha.  Trump regularly got between 20-25% in most Gold Coast precincts, Steeterville precincts, River North precincts, etc.  

These are VERY Democratic areas, but ... I mean, my precinct in Iowa City was more Democratic than where I live now in "downtown Chicago," lol.

Illinois: That Downstate is mainly rural and Republican and just lacks the population to exert any type of influence over elections.  The latter is KIND of true due to Chicago's extreme Democratic lean, but it's not because Downstate is monolithically rural, Republican or small.  Downstate Illinois represents 33.69% of the state's electorate, compared to 21.13% in the city of Chicago itself and 45.18% in the instate suburbs.  It's outvoted, for sure, but it's not some tiny slice of the electorate; more Illinoisans live there than in the city of Chicago.  It also isn't really that rural.  Half of Southern Illinois' population is part of the St. Louis suburbs, half of Northern Illinois' (excluding Chicago) population is part of either Rockford or the Quad Cities and about 60% of Central Illinois' population lives in Peoria, Champaign, Bloomington or Springfield ... say what you want about those places (I would maintain they're all quite nice!), but they are NOT rural.  Downstate has plenty of Democratic votes to give, as well, unfortunately.

[SN2903]

That 2016 was a big fluke and Michigan is a Democratic state. The bottom line is that the trends toward R among WWC is happening all over the Midwest and Michigan is no exception. Even in 2018 Democrats underperformed the polls in the Governor and Senate Race. MI is clearly moving R outside of Oakland County, Kent County and Traverse. Outside of Detroit, Wastenaw and pockets of Oakland Michigan is solidly R and is continuing to move that way.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

The number one political misconception that people have about Massachusetts is, of course, that it's a progressive fantasyland because it's heavily Democratic. The truth is that the state does tend to produce quite progressive federal officeholders, but its statewide politics are still run by small-c conservative, clientelist, often shockingly unideological Democrats who are so overwhelmingly dominant in the General Court that most of the ideological diversity that exists in the state's legislature exists within its Democratic caucuses. In that respect Massachusetts is similar to Hawaii, which also has an exaggerated pinko reputation on the basis of the kinds of federal officeholders it tends to produce.

[Dr. MB]

-Oregon's as white as Vermont
(yeah, we're on the whiter side but it's more along the lines of 3/5 to 4/5 depending on where you live, the Portland metro and most of the Willamette valley are decently diverse)

[Continential]

Conor Lamb's district: That most voters are WWC voters, when in reality, they are suburbanites.
Doyle: Pittsburgh only district- I live in here but it's like a mile away from Lamb's district.

[nclib]

Some think Durham, NC is very poor - yes it has very poor areas, but an increasing number of white liberal elites.

People used to think Jesse Helms was very popular in NC, but he never received more than 55% of the vote.

[SInNYC]

That the Bronx is all high poverty and crime.

Manhattan-centric people define the boroughs by the sliver closest to Manhattan (and many would never stoop down to venture beyond). Since the poorest parts of the Bronx and the richest parts of Brooklyn are closest to Manhattan, the Bronx is hurt and Brooklyn is helped. In reality, the parts of the city with highest violent crime rates are more in Brooklyn, though the Bronx is slightly higher than Brooklyn as a borough.

Queens actually does have lower crime, but thats mainly because its heavily immigrant.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

People think Ohio isn’t the best state.  They are wrong

[S019]

That it's not a good state.

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

That it's not a good state.

Totally this for New Jersey. Really it's not a perfect state to live in if you are looking for a permanent home as a wealthy person, but NJ is a great place for someone who doesn't mind transience in their life. Where it gets its reputation as a bottom two state, I will never understand. It's objectively a top 2 performing state for education (even if efficiency per dollar is a tad lower but still top 10). The "shore" people stereotype makes up a minority of the shore counties which are already a very tiny minority of the state. Even so, those stupid people are almost certainly better than most other states' bottom tiers. Wish there were more trains and history like other Eastern states, but it's really not that bad!

For Philly, I'd like to say the reasons dead0man hates it are not true, but they are. I think that stereotype is slightly getting smaller in proportion due to outsiders finally invading a bit more than historically.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

People think that Virginia is a pleasant place to live, but in reality it is the worst state to live in next to Florida.