Is it any better to live in a predominately Republican than a Democratic state? We, as a country, certainly argue for one party being better than the other, but is one actually a better place to live? I can't answer for you, but perhaps with some information, you can choose for yourself.
Recently, after reading an article, and many of the pointed comments which followed it, I wanted to look at the relative differences of a variety of factors. The author of the original article referred to the supposed difference between the education of the left and the right, but I don’t think he meant it in terms of schooling. I think he meant to say that in his opinion, Republicans were more politically astute and questioned why the party that frequently claims to be smarter (the Intelligentsia) could not see his, or their, viewpoint.
The basis of this article is statistics on a variety of areas, from education and income to unemployment and teen pregnancy, and ranking each state in those categories. But to begin this article, I want to look at which way each state leans politically, and then continue with metrics about each.
The current political maps (red, blue, and purple) try to show the direction that each state leans politically, usually based on a current poll which is likely biased by the poll taker's own politics; certainly on the particular questions asked and the manner in which they are asked. This graphic shows the outcome of the 2008 presidential election; the map is interactive and shows the results by state. There is one of these maps for every national election, but I have never seen one that shows the general, everyday political bent of the states, so I made one.
I determined the “party of the state" by using the following:
• The party of the state’s Governor
• The party of the Lt. Governor
• The parties of the two U.S. Senators
• The U.S. House of Representatives parties
• The parties of the state legislative members
I expect some disagreement over the method used to determine state party affiliation, but of course, you are free to make your own map using whatever criteria you choose. I think though, that no matter how you split up the states, the conclusions that I came to will still hold.
Article comments
1 - Dr Dreadful
Hmm.
Rating good places to live on a state-by-state basis, since quality of life and cost of living can vary wildly within states, can be very misleading. For example California, where I live, is commonly perceived to have a very high cost of living, whereas this is only actually true of the coast and the metropoli of San Diego, Los Angeles and the Bay Area.
There are a few other important metrics you seem to have omitted. And no, I'm not talking about abortion rates, a discussion of which you wisely eschewed and which is a peripheral factor anyway.
But there are things like rates of state taxation, what the state does with its revenue (and how efficiently) and the liberality (or otherwise) of its laws which I would have thought merited serious consideration.
2 - Baronius
What's striking about the list to me is how strongly regional the patterns are. Some pairs of states are next to each other in ranking, even though they differ in party affiliation. For example, Vermont/NH, Virginia/Maryland, and Alabama/Mississippi. Not that geographically-adjacent states are necessarily similar - it still amuses me that Nevada and Utah are next to each other.
I have two problems with this analysis, aside from Dread's legitimate point about controlling wages for cost of living. First of all, I don't see how population is a good measure of desirability. But the bigger problem is that state party affiliations break down when you look within a state, specifically at the rural/urban split. Austin votes like Seattle. Rural Massachusetts lives like rural Indiana. In fact, that's one of the main reasons that either party's candidates are viable in most any state. I'd have no idea how to take that into account.
3 - Glenn Contrarian
Baronius -
About three years ago I pointed out the differences in between the red states and the blue states...and - after having been schooled in logical thinking by Clavos - came to realize that 'good' or 'bad' statistics in a state are NOT due so much to 'blue' or 'red' governance. Instead, it's due to the level of urbanization of that state.
The reason why urbanization makes such a huge difference is that one doesn't find the best universities out in the sticks. One doesn't (usually) find high-tech centers out in the boonies. These are a couple of reasons why blue states generally pay more in federal taxes than they receive from the federal government, and blue states generally have a higher level of populations with health insurance than do red states. But the benefits of living in blue states have less to do living in blue states than it does with the level of urbanization.
But you're wondering why it is that urban areas strongly tend towards voting blue, right? The answer's easy once you really think about it. Because people in urban centers have a great deal more interaction with people from other races/cultures/religions/economic-situations/sexual-orientations than do people in rural areas...all of which means that people in more urban areas - thanks to their direct and daily contact with people so different from themselves - are more likely to understand those "other" people, and are more likely to approve of social services to help the disadvantaged...
...unlike those out in rural areas whose exposure to "other" people is often limited to not much more than they see on the television screen, and who really don't see a need for, say, crisis lines for LGBT's. Sure, out in the countryside you'll see poverty, see Hispanics and Blacks and a few Native-Americans...but as for interactions with, say, Muslims selling halal shwarmas on the street corners or Ethiopian taxi drivers or South Koreans having a monopoly on the dry-cleaners or the Vietnamese owning almost all the nail-art boutiques...no, you won't see much of these out where "Dueling Banjos" is enjoyed by all and doesn't bring to mind the phrase "Squeal like a pig, boy!"
All of the above are reasons why more urbanized areas tend to vote blue, and more urban areas tend to vote red.
4 - Baronius
Glenn - You may recall that I was part of that conversation three years ago as well, and I made the same point I'm making here.
I think there are a lot of reasons for greater liberalism in urban areas. One is transportation. Densely-populated areas have greater need for public transit. Also, there's a tendency toward impersonalism in urban areas, which may make private charity less efficient than public. But whatever the many reasons are, we can agree that a red/blue analysis has more meaning when the rural/urban split is taken into account. The ultimate analysis would include demographics: ideological changes over age, and movements between red and blue areas. OAR's effort took a lot of work as it stands now; a person could go crazy trying to accumulate all the information.
5 - Dr Dreadful
Exactly, Baronius.
Which is why when Money Magazine, and others, publish their lists of the best places to live, they almost invariably rank them by city, not by state.
6 - One Americans Rant
Doc,
I realize that that are other, perhaps better, metrics to use, in fact I cut down the list just because the data got overwhelming.
This was half whimsical, and half serious; really a response to a post that I can't find now.
7 - One Americans Rant
Glenn,
Do you remember the post that had something about either schooling or education? You commented that the author was probably misrepresenting something... I looked for it but I didn't expect that it would take me 3-4 weeks to finish this.
8 - Ron
Ready to LEAVE blue state living for good and DON'T FOLLOW ME BLUE STATE PEOPLE!!! LOL... All you do is create high taxes, political correctness, anti religion.. Am sick of it.. NEVER EVER again will live in a blue state.. YUCK... PS.. your murder and pregnancy rate is a bit off regarding blue/red state.. Those are black folks that are responsible for BOTH Heavily and they are as blue state( even if they live in a red one) as they come... Give me low taxes, no PC Bullcrap and JESUS... I have had YEARS of the OPPOSITE.. NO MORE! See YA.. PS.. vote this fool we have for president OUT this year...
9 - Paul
What is your metric for population? You have California as one, and New York as two. But Florida and Texas rank way down, below Nevada, even though Texas is the second most populous state and Florida is fourth. Is the measured by pure population numbers? Or another metric? Why is this important as far as quality of life?
10 - His Prissiness Lord Igor
I'd like a pink state! Red and (shudder) Blue are too masculine and stinky! I want a state with a lot of women and girls because they're more fun and they smell better.
11 - Curious
I might have missed the answer to Paul's question, but what does "population" indicate on the table? It isn't population size or density...