If the UK were the 51st American state, would it be a blue state?

[buritobr]

Well, this blue state had lots of republican governors, like Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher, John Major, David Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson

But some blue states in the US, like Massachusetts, had lots of republican governors too.

[mileslunn]

Absolutely as for starters Tories win most of the time but never get over 50% and usually in low 40s.  Asides unionist party and maybe some Brexit party supporters few other parties would vote GOP while many Tories would go Democrat.

[Storr]

If that happened could we move the capital to Bermuda?
Also not to be picky, but I'd assume a US-UK merger would result in four new states because Northern Ireland in the same state as England might....upset a few people. (I assume current UK territories and dependencies like the Channel Islands, Island of Man, and Gibraltar would continue to not have representation in the governmental legislative body.)

[Alben Barkley]

I think even most UK Conservatives would vote Democratic over Republican, or at least a significant enough proportion of them to easily make it solid D when their votes are combined with the liberal/left parties.

[WindowPhil]

I think even most UK Conservatives would vote Democratic over Republican, or at least a significant enough proportion of them to easily make it solid D when their votes are combined with the liberal/left parties.

Yep.

* By and large love that universal healthcare.

* By and large support gun control.

* By and large pro choice.

* By and large secular

* Cool with LGBT people. (Although I don't know if they're cool with the T)

* Cool with Cannabis (I think)

Republicans on the other hand...

[CumbrianLefty]

Might - might - have voted for Reagan in 1984, but after that......

[beesley]

Most likely, but this is a stupid question in practice.

[Conservatopia]

* By and large love that universal healthcare.
True

* By and large support gun control.
True

* By and large pro choice.
A bit more nuanced than that - most would support some sort of restrictions but not an outright ban

* By and large secular
Very true

* Cool with LGBT people. (Although I don't know if they're cool with the T)
Definitely not okay with the T and much less okay with the LGB than you assume

* Cool with Cannabis (I think)
It isn't a big issue here so difficult to who would support this

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Only among the ignorant masses who fail to adopt the proper map colors.

[Statilius the Epicurean]

The US Republican Party is very evangelical Christian, rugged individualist, American nationalist in a way that would heavily alienate the middle UK voter. The Democratic Party's racial rhetoric would probably put off voters here otherwise they would be much closer to the centre overall.

The question is kind of silly because how does the UK become the 51st state anyway? I would assume that we would have regional parties like Puerto Rico does, or Quebec in Canada.

[WindowPhil]

The US Republican Party is very evangelical Christian, rugged individualist, American nationalist in a way that would heavily alienate the middle UK voter. The Democratic Party's racial rhetoric would probably put off voters here otherwise they would be much closer to the centre overall.

Lots of Americans are turned off by both of those ideas in their pure forms as well. It comes down to who you hate more.

For example, someone may not be super passionate about activism that only includes the establishment Democrat formula of racial justice and TERF-adjacent neoliberal second wave feminist stuff.

But they're a secularist who supports legal weed, LGBT rights, universal healthcare, hates strict GOP cultural interpretations "real men work with their hands, love jesus and drive trucks", and see republicans as an international embarrassment. So they'd strongly support the Democrats.

[mileslunn]

I think even most UK Conservatives would vote Democratic over Republican, or at least a significant enough proportion of them to easily make it solid D when their votes are combined with the liberal/left parties.

Yep.

* By and large love that universal healthcare.

* By and large support gun control.

* By and large pro choice.

* By and large secular

* Cool with LGBT people. (Although I don't know if they're cool with the T)

* Cool with Cannabis (I think)

Republicans on the other hand...

Very true, even Tories very pro-NHS while GOP even opposes Obamacare which is still far more private than British system.  In fact even most Democrats don't wish go as far as NHS, it is more left wing elements than support going that far.

Ditto gun control.  It was Margaret Thatcher who banned assault weapons.  John Major banned all handguns save .22 Calibers (Tony Blair banned those) and they had to stay at range (now banned outright).  Idea of owning guns for self defense is a foreign idea in UK as even most police officers don't carry them (only special units do).  Hunting and sports shooting are only reasons people own them, not personal protection.

Have some pro-life, but largely considered a settled issue and not a huge contingent that want to re-open it.  However UK does have some restrictions, its not free for all like Canada is on abortion.

Yes more secular and although some religious, Brits don't tend to wear religion on their sleeves like Americans do.

Yes pro LGBT as it was David Cameron who legalized gay marriage and that was before US supreme court ruling in Obenfell case.  While was divisive within Tory caucus, support for gay marriage is definitely far more prevalent with Tories than it is in GOP.

UK still criminalizes marijuana, but unlike US its not a major issue and no party is really pushing hard on this issue either way.  Marijuana use in Europe is much lower than US thus much less of a major issue there.

[WindowPhil]

I think even most UK Conservatives would vote Democratic over Republican, or at least a significant enough proportion of them to easily make it solid D when their votes are combined with the liberal/left parties.

Yep.

* By and large love that universal healthcare.

* By and large support gun control.

* By and large pro choice.

* By and large secular

* Cool with LGBT people. (Although I don't know if they're cool with the T)

* Cool with Cannabis (I think)

Republicans on the other hand...

Very true, even Tories very pro-NHS while GOP even opposes Obamacare which is still far more private than British system.  In fact even most Democrats don't wish go as far as NHS, it is more left wing elements than support going that far.

Ditto gun control.  It was Margaret Thatcher who banned assault weapons.  John Major banned all handguns save .22 Calibers (Tony Blair banned those) and they had to stay at range (now banned outright).  Idea of owning guns for self defense is a foreign idea in UK as even most police officers don't carry them (only special units do).  Hunting and sports shooting are only reasons people own them, not personal protection.

Have some pro-life, but largely considered a settled issue and not a huge contingent that want to re-open it.  However UK does have some restrictions, its not free for all like Canada is on abortion.

Yes more secular and although some religious, Brits don't tend to wear religion on their sleeves like Americans do.

Yes pro LGBT as it was David Cameron who legalized gay marriage and that was before US supreme court ruling in Obenfell case.  While was divisive within Tory caucus, support for gay marriage is definitely far more prevalent with Tories than it is in GOP.

UK still criminalizes marijuana, but unlike US its not a major issue and no party is really pushing hard on this issue either way.  Marijuana use in Europe is much lower than US thus much less of a major issue there.

Two side questions

* Would you say the United States is more conservative on cannabis and LGBT issues than all high income democracies (even East Asian high income democracies like Japan and South Korea)? Or even more conservative than the median country overall (as in in the conservative half when all 196 are included)?

* Would you say the United States is the most conservative high income democracy when it comes to censoring/banning taboo things and ideas? I know there's the first amendment, but over the air media is censored here when it's not in many other countries.

[EastwoodS]

https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2020/11/polling-majority-brits-would-vote-joe-biden-us-presidential-election
It wouldn’t even be close, yes.

[EastwoodS]

Well, this blue state had lots of republican governors, like Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher, John Major, David Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson

But some blue states in the US, like Massachusetts, had lots of republican governors too.

You’re confused, a lot of them aren’t anywhere close to where the US Republicans would be. Many of them might even be centrist Democrats. I’m shocked some on here would even suggest the “conservative” movement in the UK is any more right wing than Susan Collins, tbf.

[SnowLabrador]

It would be bluer than DC. What many Americans don't realize is that their country is uniquely right-wing.

[King of Kensington]

It would vote like Massachusetts.

[Alcibiades]

* By and large love that universal healthcare.
True

* By and large support gun control.
True

* By and large pro choice.
A bit more nuanced than that - most would support some sort of restrictions but not an outright ban

* By and large secular
Very true

* Cool with LGBT people. (Although I don't know if they're cool with the T)
Definitely not okay with the T and much less okay with the LGB than you assume

* Cool with Cannabis (I think)
It isn't a big issue here so difficult to who would support this

I would have to disagree with you on a couple of these. On abortion, I don’t think people think much about it and most are probably happy with the status quo, which, while not ultra-liberalised, is not exactly restrictive.

As for LGB, the UK is one of the most tolerant countries in the world, one of the few areas where we are more progressive than most of the rest of Western Europe.

[WindowPhil]

As for LGB, the UK is one of the most tolerant countries in the world, one of the few areas where we are more progressive than most of the rest of Western Europe.
[/quote]

Why is it quite transphobic (so much so that it's nicknamed "TERF Island")?

[beesley]

Why is it quite transphobic (so much so that it's nicknamed "TERF Island")?

I've never heard that nickname before, but I would imagine that far fewer people in the UK would have a meaningful view on transgender rights than in the US.

[CumbrianLefty]

Transphobes/TERFs are disproportionately powerful in our media, though. And that feeds through into an influence on the wider "liberal left" (eg Duffield)

[Conservatopia]

Transphobes/TERFs are disproportionately powerful in our media, though. And that feeds through into an influence on the wider "liberal left" (eg Duffield)

I wish this were true but it isn't really.  All the big corporations and institutions and media outlets are very protective of the trans people and love to loudly proclaim their support for what they see as their rights.  So to claim our media is transphobic just because they occasionally give a voice to somebody that holds the completely rational viewpoint that sex is unchangeable is ridiculous.

Somebody like Duffield isn't transphobic (that would mean she hated them), rather she has legitimate concerns over the direction that this is all heading.

I don't often discuss my personal views here but I think this idea that the UK media is anti-trans needs countering.

[CumbrianLefty]

Duffield repeats and "likes" transphobic tropes on a regular basis - trust me, I have taken more note of this than you. And what about the Trans Haters Gazette - formerly known as the Times?

[buritobr]

Most of the british people have preference for the democratic candidates of the US, as we can see in the opinion polls. Even some Tory voters prefer the democrats in the US.
However, we cannot deny that Margaret Thatcher is much more similar to an American republican than to an American democrat.

[Alben Barkley]

It would be bluer than DC. What many Americans don't realize is that their country is uniquely right-wing.

The idea that the US is "uniquely right-wing" is absurd. What, are we more right-wing than Putin's Russia? Bolsonaro's Brazil? Erdogan's Turkey? Orban's Hungary?  

And even if you just limit it to (Western) Europe, we are on the whole more right-wing in some ways (like guns and healthcare) but actually more left-wing in others (like immigration and even corporate tax rates, and to an extent abortion). It's not really an apples to apples comparison. Throughout history, the US has generally been a fairly progressive country even as we have an element of conservatism holding that back a bit. That's still largely true today. Only in recent years has much of Europe -- which still had lots of dictatorships, empires, and absolute monarchies until after WW2 -- been able to even arguably claim it's more progressive than the US.

The idea that the UK would vote to the left of 90% Democratic DC is also absurd. The hard line Brexiteers and UKIP types like Farage would certainly vote Republican. They might not be a majority of even the Tories, but it would be enough to probably make the state at least vote more like yours than like DC, with about a third Republican support rather than less than 10%. Hell, Le Pen got about a third even in France which is probably to the left of the UK overall, and is poised to get more next time. The US is not the only country with a surging populist right by any means. If anything, our left is in a stronger position right now than it is in most of the world, including the UK.