Why are Orange County whites more conservative than LA county whites?

[Tekken_Guy]

What is the difference between Orange County’s white population and LA’s?

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

More midwest influence perhaps? Also white flight creating a lingering skew.

[tagimaucia]

Aren't whites in urban core counties generally more liberal than whites in more suburban counties that surround them in most metro areas?  

I'm not sure that the answer would really be about anything specific to the LA metro.  Probably the type of whites that want to live in denser, more urban areas, closer to cultural amenities and 'creative class'/arts/entertainment/media jobs, etc. are just generally more culturally liberal than those who don't.

[Starry Eyed Jagaloon]

Because living in the middle of a city generally attracts a more liberal crowd. You could just as well ask why Manhattan whites vote to the left of Long Island whites. In actuality though, this hides important internal data, because some of LA County is pretty suburban in nature. Republicans win whites east of the 605 freeway which--in my view--is where Southern California's suburbs start (whether they're in LA County, Orange County, or San Bernardino County). In fact, CA-45 and CA-48 whites vote meaningfully to the left of whites in SELA County and San Bernardino County--they just have a higher white share of the population to begin with.

[Alcibiades]

Undoubtedly the ultra-reactionary nature of mid-to-late 20th century Orange County still lingers on in many of its current white residents.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Undoubtedly the ultra-reactionary nature of mid-to-late 20th century Orange County still lingers on in many of its current white residents.

Yeah, on a sidenote, it's a bit of a miracle how Dems were able to win House seats in Orange County for perhaps even most of the Cold War.

[I’m not Stu]

Undoubtedly the ultra-reactionary nature of mid-to-late 20th century Orange County still lingers on in many of its current white residents.

Yeah, on a sidenote, it's a bit of a miracle how Dems were able to win House seats in Orange County for perhaps even most of the Cold War.

Since the Santa Ana district was created in the 1960s, Bob Dornan was the only Republican to ever represent it. He won with help from Reagan's coattails. The other four to represent it (Richard Hanna, Jerry Patterson, Loretta Sanchez, and Lou Correa) have all been Democrats.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Something that just hit me. Both Southern California in the past and Arizona today have a long history of being influenced by right-leaning Midwesterners, and they even had the same sorts of controversies around immigration. Compare the hijinks of Bob Dornan to that of Arizona Republicans in the 2010s.

[H. Ross Peron]

Something that just hit me. Both Southern California in the past and Arizona today have a long history of being influenced by right-leaning Midwesterners, and they even had the same sorts of controversies around immigration. Compare the hijinks of Bob Dornan to that of Arizona Republicans in the 2010s.

A lot of Orange County whites, disproportionately conservatives, moved to Arizona or Nevada from the 1990s onwards to flee high living costs and taxation.