Comments on: Electoral changes: North, South, East, West, inland, coast

By: Nick

Nick — Thu, 20 Mar 2014 15:21:21 +0000

Tesh – More like rich liberals and poor minorities.

By: Tesh

Tesh — Thu, 20 Mar 2014 06:32:54 +0000

The county level is more interesting to me. It shows a pretty clear pattern of high density urban areas leaning heavily Democrat. I’m not entirely sure why, but I suspect it’s an unholy fusion of those who live off of the government and the controlling entities who profit most from currying favor with the State. Such people aren’t exclusively Democrat, but they seem overwhelmingly so, and why not? The State treats them well as subjects or middle management. Supporting a strong State is only natural if you’re in such a protected class.

At least, until it turns on you.

By: IGotBupkis, "Si tacuisses, philosophus mansisses."

IGotBupkis, "Si tacuisses, philosophus mansisses." — Thu, 20 Mar 2014 04:42:30 +0000

I don't know what neo's source is, but anyone wants to look this stuff over, the obvious source is Dave Leip's Election Atlas I know she didn't use Dave simply because Dave hasn't reversed the color scheme like the media did ca. 1998 or so, to eliminate the "Dems=Reds" connection. Dave still uses the traditional GOP=Blue, Dems=Reds, that has been the standard for many decades. With Dave, you can break it down to the county level most of the time, going back for a long while.

By: Gringo

Gringo — Thu, 20 Mar 2014 02:36:09 +0000

For comparison. New England- near complete switchover. Midwest- some switched, some didn’t.
Sooutm complete switchover.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PresidentialCounty1876.gif

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:2012nationwidecountymapshadedbypercentagewon.svg

By: Gringo

Gringo — Thu, 20 Mar 2014 02:24:58 +0000

I see the the bigggest current split between Demo and Pub as being between urban and rural. As Oldflyer points out, rural California votes Pub while the big metro areas vote Demo.

I suspect that in much of the Northeast, the rural counties which voted Pub in 1876 are still voting Pub. The difference is that the Demo cities now outvote them. The same should follow for the Midwest. Certainly downstate Illinois is currently a Pub stronghold, as it probably was in 1876.

By: neo-neocon

neo-neocon — Wed, 19 Mar 2014 19:58:06 +0000

John in Palm Springs:

Oops! I put the wrong year map up. I’ll change it to 2012, which is actually very similar. Thanks!

By: John In Palm Springs

John In Palm Springs — Wed, 19 Mar 2014 19:49:07 +0000

One small error bothers me. You call the map a recap of the 2012 election, but it compares the votes for Obama and McCain. Call me crazy, but I thought Romney ran in 2012 and McCain ran in 2008.

By: Glen H

Glen H — Wed, 19 Mar 2014 19:28:52 +0000

Two-thirds is a huge landslide. It is two to one. Anything beyond that transcends competitive and verges into monolithic.

By: Oldflyer

Oldflyer — Wed, 19 Mar 2014 19:18:09 +0000

Of course it is well understood that the split is not really along state lines; although the electoral vote may go that way.

In California, large swaths of the state lean GOP but are over powered by the coastal “elites” and the big city welfare population.

Virginia has become an even starker example. The traditional Virginia electorate is swamped by the heavily populated, heavily invested in federal government, DC suburbs. These suburban areas are again augmented by the welfare dependent cities, like Norfolk and Richmond. Forty miles from DC, the county I recently moved from reliably votes GOP election after election.

It is little wonder that there is sentiment to break states into parts, because large areas of so many states feel that there is no chance for representation. Would that it could happen, but the chances are slim and none. After all, the money and infrastructure resources in states such as California are controlled by Democrats. Would they share with a break away entity? What a silly question.

By: Nick

Nick — Wed, 19 Mar 2014 18:05:11 +0000

I said that you don’t want to waste time or money. Let me add one other resource you don’t want to waste: positions. The modern presidential campaign wants to hold only those positions that will win that 51%. If you’re running low, sell off a belief. Pick up or drop agenda items to win over or alienate people as needed.