Posted on 08/11/2005 1:13:23 PM PDT by TheMole
BERKELEY, CA – A new nationwide study released today by the nonpartisan Bay Area Center for Voting Research (BACVR) ranks the political leanings of every American city and finds that Detroit, Michigan is the most liberal and Provo, Utah the most conservative.
In all, the BACVR researchers examined voting patterns of 237 American cities with populations of over 100,000 and ranked them each on liberal and conservative scales.
The list of America’s most liberal cities is dominated by cities with large African American populations that are concentrated in the Northeast, Midwest and California. Conversely, the study found that the staunchest conservative cities are clustered in the South and interior West and have extremely low numbers of African American residents.
“Detroit and Provo epitomize America’s political, economic and racial polarization,” said Jason Alderman a BACVR director. “As the most conservative city in America, Provo is overwhelmingly white and solidly middle class. This is in stark contrast to Detroit, which is impoverished, black and the most liberal.” Gary, Indiana, a rust belt former steel town, comes in as America’s second most liberal city, followed by Berkeley, California, which ranks third. Washington, D.C. comes in as the fourth most liberal and Oakland, California comes in fifth.
On the list of the nation’s most conservative cities, Texas cements its reputation as America’s most rock-ribbed state, having three cities in the top five. Lubbock and Abilene, Texas rank as the second and third most conservative cities, respectively, followed by Hialeah, Florida in fourth place and Plano, Texas in fifth.
BACVR researchers found a direct correlation between a city’s political ideology and its racial makeup. “The great political divide in America today is not red vs. blue, north vs. south, costal vs. interior or even rich vs. poor – it is now clearly black vs. white,” said Phil Reiff, a BACVR director.
“While there are a few liberal cities without large African American populations, these wind up being the exceptions. College towns like Berkeley and Cambridge have modest black populations but remain bastions of upper middle-class, white, intellectual liberalism. These liberal white communities, however, are more reminiscent of penguins clustering together around a shrinking iceberg than of a vibrant and growing political movement,” Reiff said.
The Bay Area Center for Voting Research is a nonpartisan think tank based in Berkeley, California. A full copy of the report and the complete list of rankings for all 237 cities are available at www.votingresearch.org.
America’s 25 Most Liberal Cities
(in descending order)
1 Detroit Michigan
2 Gary Indiana
3 Berkeley California
4 Washington, D.C.
5 Oakland California
6 Inglewood California
7 Newark New Jersey
8 Cambridge Massachusetts
9 San Francisco California
10 Flint Michigan
11 Cleveland Ohio
12 Hartford Connecticut
13 Paterson New Jersey
14 Baltimore Maryland
15 New Haven Connecticut
16 Seattle Washington
17 Chicago Illinois
18 Philadelphia Pennsylvania
19 Birmingham Alabama
20 St. Louis Missouri
21 New York New York
22 Providence Rhode Island
23 Minneapolis Minnesota
24 Boston Massachusetts
25 Buffalo New York
America’s 25 Most Conservative Cities
(in descending order)
1 Provo Utah
2 Lubbock Texas
3 Abilene Texas
4 Hialeah Florida
5 Plano Texas
6 Colorado Springs Colorado
7 Gilbert Arizona
8 Bakersfield California
9 Lafayette Louisiana
10 Orange California
11 Escondido California
12 Allentown Pennsylvania
13 Mesa Arizona
14 Arlington Texas
15 Peoria Arizona
16 Cape Coral Florida
17 Garden Grove California
18 Simi Valley California
19 Corona California
20 Clearwater Florida
21 West Valley City Utah
22 Oklahoma City Oklahoma
23 Overland Park Kansas
24 Anchorage Alaska
25 Huntington Beach California
I thought Thousand Oaks disowned Westlake years ago..... I lived there from 1964-1984....
So they're assuming everyone who votes conservative in Lubbock white and wealthy? Pinche' Berkely hippies.
Several years ago when the Texas Tech women won the nat'l basketball championship they got to go to D.C. to meet Clintoon.
A local TV reporter asked one of the girls if she had a message for the President from Lubbock. She answered that she did but couldn't say it on TV. LOL.
She's still banned on local radio in Lubbock.
hmmm... Didn't think that Colorado Springs could be beaten. Five major military installations and an extremely religious population.
Maybe they kicked her out.
These guys missed Charlottesville , Va -- the Berkeley of the South.
Conservatism is seldom the prevailing attitude in areas with dense populations. I am not certain if liberals are attracted to densely populated areas or if the miserable atmosphere and living conditions found in densely populated areas converts conservatives into liberals. But it is indisputable that the more people living in a given area, the more liberal it is likely to be. Less people equals more conservatism.
This is just one of the reasons I am opposed to our current levels of mass immigration.
I notice that El Ley got left off the list..
Gilbert Arizona is one of the hottest growing areas in the Phoenix metro area. It's thriving and growing by leaps and bounds. New housing, businesses relocating, clean and beautiful.
I don't buy it if San Fran isn't the number one liberal city.
I've lived in Lubbock. I'll take Lubbock any day over liberal land. Even WITH the dust storms!
It's costly, but not California bad. Provo is beautiful. So are Orem, Alpine, Lehi, and, of course, my new home, Heber City.
Heber is much more affordable--though not quite as conservative as Provo.
I prefer comparing it to San Francisco. Close enough, though, right?
Who you calling "quirky"?
We're a "peculiar people." :o)
Although I agree Austin should be in the top ten I disagree that we are the anus of Texas. That would be Houston.
Yes! Hialeah!
Well, if Houston is the anus (which I agree with), that makes Austin the.......
better quit before I get banned.
Right now in Lubbock:
88°F
Feels Like
89°F
Updated Aug 11 03:45 p.m. CT
UV Index: 7 High
Wind: From SE at 10 mph gusting to 19 mph
Humidity: 42%
Pressure: 29.84 in.
Dew Point: 63°F
Visibility: 10.0 miles
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