Regional difference of the US voters- why?

DoctorJay · Post by **DoctorJay** » 07 Nov 2004 08:07

Why is there such a regional split of the USA voters.
As I watched the election you can see that the middle/south of the USA vote for Bush and the Coasts for Kerry.

What is the reason for that ?

Senor Grommet · Post by **Senor Grommet** » 07 Nov 2004 09:36

Its a combination of factors really.

The economy is different inthe Midwest vs the coasts. Its life city life vs country life. I know this is a super huge generalization that doent apply all over but, yeah. The lifestyle is different. For the most part, midwesterners are very religious, much moreso than people on the coasts. When I thinkg of the South, I thik Bible belt-religion-racism, closed-mindedness- all factors that lead to Bush voting. Seriously, thats what I think. When I think of the West coast in particular I think, progressivism, new age, laid-back lifestyle, all things that I equate with Kerry more than Bush.

HighDemonslayer · Post by **HighDemonslayer** » 07 Nov 2004 21:26

Did you look at the map that shows the blue/red states? or the map that shows all the blue-red counties?

The map with all the counties makes it look like 99% of the land mass voted for Bush.

-n

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 07 Nov 2004 22:55

HighDemonslayer wrote: The map with all the counties makes it look like 99% of the land mass voted for Bush.

-n

That sounds interesting. Could you post a link to it? Thanks.

mattkain · Post by **mattkain** » 07 Nov 2004 23:20

C-Fan wrote:That sounds interesting. Could you post a link to it? Thanks.

It really is interesting:

http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/archives/7902

Matt Kain

wolfpac444 · Post by **wolfpac444** » 07 Nov 2004 23:20

http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/archives/7902

and

http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/archives/7919

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 07 Nov 2004 23:59

Wow, thanks Matt and Mike!

Following those links, I found this map, which is bigger, and you can zoom in on it.

http://www.princeton.edu/~rvdb/JAVA/election2004/

ShredPirate · Post by **ShredPirate** » 08 Nov 2004 00:27

all the highly populated counties voted for kerry.

one reason this might be because those are the places that have been affected (in a BAD way) by Bush the most, and the people know it.
whereas the other places that are very rural, weren't affected by Bush's ill-presidency, because they are very simple: grow plants, sell them.

conclusion: a declining economy is only very noticable in urban, highly populated areas.

in Los Angeles, since Bush has become president, it has become VERY hard to find a job. wages aren't nearly as good. companies going out of business left and right. school's are costing 3-4 times their previous amount. half the courses in my school were "discontinued". GAS prices are almost DOUBLED. the list goes on.

it's easy to support Bush when you aren't affected by his decisions, and have no clue as to what he has done to a once-prosperous, californian economy.

ShredPirate · Post by **ShredPirate** » 08 Nov 2004 00:29

(sorry for double post)

i forgot to mention Schwartenegger

but that's another story.

sPinko-Mania · Post by **sPinko-Mania** » 08 Nov 2004 03:13

ShredPirate wrote:one reason this might be because those are the places that have been affected (in a BAD way) by Bush the most, and the people know it.
whereas the other places that are very rural, weren't affected by Bush's ill-presidency, because they are very simple: grow plants, sell them.

This reminds me of a joke Kerry concession speech doing the rounds at the moment: http://liquidcourageous.com/

As the night progressed, people began to talk half-seriously about secession, a red state / blue state split. The reasoning was this: We in blue states produce the vast majority of the wealth in this country and pay the most taxes, and you in the red states receive the majority of the money from those taxes while complaining about 'em. We in the blue states are the only ones who've been attacked by foreign terrorists, yet you in the red states are gung ho to fight a war in our name. We in the blue states produce the entertainment that you consume so greedily each day, while you in the red states show open disdain for us and our values. Blue state civilians are the actual victims and targets of the war on terror, while red state civilians are the ones standing behind us and yelling "Oh, yeah!? Bring it on!"

HighDemonslayer · Post by **HighDemonslayer** » 08 Nov 2004 08:17

Here's links to a few maps . It's not the one I saw before . These may be more "illustrative".
Just because a county "Went for Bush", could mean that county went 51% Bush, 49% Kerry. And thus a map showing that county totally red might be misleading.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/vote2000/cbc/map.htm

http://www.princeton.edu/~rvdb/JAVA/election2004/

HighDemonslayer · Post by **HighDemonslayer** » 08 Nov 2004 08:42

Shred Pirate wrote:
------------------------------------------------------------
conclusion: a declining economy is only very noticable in urban, highly populated areas.

in Los Angeles, since Bush has become president, it has become VERY hard to find a job. wages aren't nearly as good. companies going out of business left and right. school's are costing 3-4 times their previous amount. half the courses in my school were "discontinued". GAS prices are almost DOUBLED. the list goes on.

------------------------------------------------------------

You would think that a factory closing in a small town in Ohio might have a huge affect on the locals, and their economy.

Do you think illegals bankrupting your institutions, driving down wages, and overflowing your schools, play no part in those problems?

Or is that the 900 LBS gorilla in the room that nobody wants to talk about?

The more people in an area, the more competition for jobs there is, and the more strain on the schools and environment.

There are consequences to explosive population growth.

I would blame Kerry. His wife could have built a ketchup factory in your town, but went overseas instead.

-n

ShredPirate · Post by **ShredPirate** » 08 Nov 2004 11:24

well my point wasn't that the economy was declining; it was that the economy was declining once Bush was elected in 2000.

ShredPirate · Post by **ShredPirate** » 08 Nov 2004 11:26

(double post again)

Bush also pointed out numerous times about how Kerry has no leadership record. Well in my opinion, no record is better than bad (or "covered up") records.

HighDemonslayer · Post by **HighDemonslayer** » 08 Nov 2004 11:43

That's a good point, I never saw John Kerry's military, and medical records? What about his FBI file?

No reason to beat up kerry more now, he can go back to the Senate, but that won't matter, he never shows up for work anyway.

-n

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 08 Nov 2004 18:52

ShredPirate wrote:well my point wasn't that the economy was declining; it was that the economy was declining once Bush was elected in 2000.

Yeah, and his point was that Mexicans have a different skin color and want to rape white women, so we should kill them because they`re different and scary.

HighDemonslayer · Post by **HighDemonslayer** » 08 Nov 2004 23:43

I don't know....just because we haven't seen John Kerry's military records, doesn't mean we should assume he raped the women....before he torched their villages with his Zippo.

-n

Juan · Post by **Juan** » 09 Nov 2004 17:24

People have been explaining the divide as a Cultural Conflict.

On the grassroots level, churches and the republican party have mobilized rural populations to vote based on abortion and gay marriage issues. In 11 states, gay marriage bans were proposed and PASSED by socially conservative voters eager to get out and vote on these issues. The Ohio ballot included a gay marriage ban proposal, so it prolly brought out some social conservatives to voting booth in that decisive state.

The anti-Bush campaign succeeded more in cosmopolitan cities, but obviously failed in South and Midwest.

HighDemonslayer · Post by **HighDemonslayer** » 10 Nov 2004 10:32

Bill Clinton was quoted (barely) as saying the gay marrage issue downed Kerry.

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2004 ... 1553.shtml

This proves that Bush voters are actually Neandrathal homo-phobes, whose single-minded hatred drives them to vote.

-n

C-Fan · Post by **C-Fan** » 10 Nov 2004 15:29

HighDemonslayer wrote: This proves that Bush voters are actually Neandrathal homo-phobes, whose single-minded hatred drives them to vote.

On a completely unrelated topic, how did you vote Nathan?