Total White Fertility Best Predictor Of Bush Vote

[Clemenza]

Speaking as someone from the northeast, I can tell you that the fastest disappearing demographic in New York are lower middle class whites, who usually coincide with those with a high school/some college level of education. The high price of real estate has pushed those people out of the region, leaving it to wealthier, secular whites, with growing numbers of middle class/upper middle class immigrants (think transplants from Hong Kong, Bangalore, and Moscow) and the native born AND immigrant nonwhite poor.

Perhaps the biggest factor in the decline of white birthrates in the northeast has been the decline in influence of the Catholic Church. White Catholics in places like New York, Rhode Island and Massachussets used to have very high birth rates. The secularization of subsequent generations and the high cost of living in those areas has caused the birthrate of white "Catholics" to decline considerably.

[cyborg]

How about plain and simple GREED. Here on Long Island, a baby is considered a speed bump in one's way to SUCCESS. It's NO conincidence that the fertility rates are in areas where the people are very religious. Talking about white fertility is probably a great way to get people to read the article, but it's really addressing a larger issue of the devaluation of children and the elimination of religion in people's lives.

[Paleo Conservative]

The Democrats do well in less egalitarian states where the middle class is smaller and both the lower and upper classes are larger.

[MHGinTN]

I'd say your single paragraph is far superior in clarity and brevity.

[rmlew]

This is to be expected. Religious individuals are more likely to have multiple children than the less religious. Socially conservative whites are the base of the GOP.

[FreedomCalls]

Why does the white population of Utah have a median IQ 17 points higher than that of West Virginia?

Students in West Virginia primarily go to public schools, students in Utah are more likely to go to private LDS schools.

[Wallace T.]

I wasn't aware that the LDS church operated many private schools below the college level. I do know that there is a substantial number of Mormon homeschoolers. There are enough publishers that provide texts and materials for homeschoolers that Mormon families can select curricula without the Baptistic or Calvinist leanings of the largest providers of materials like A-Beka or Bob Jones.