City's Liberal, but It's No Detroit *BARF ALERT*

New York Sun ^ | August 12, 2005 | Meghan Clyne

[Dan Nunn]

A new study puts the Big Apple near the bottom of a list of the top 25 most liberal cities in America - and behind such newly crowned leftist redoubts as Gary, Ind., Newark, N.J., and Flint, Mich.

According to the study, released yesterday, Detroit, is the most liberal city in America. Provo, Utah, is the most conservative. The survey was conducted by the Bay Area Center for Voting Research, a nonpartisan, nonprofit institute based in Berkeley, Calif.

The institute's findings, particularly on the liberal list, challenged the preconceptions of those who expected either small, left-leaning university towns - such as Madison, Wis., Berkeley, Calif., and Ann Arbor, Mich. - or major metropolises, such as New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago, to dominate the rankings. While Berkeley and Cambridge, Mass., came in at nos. 3 and 8 on the most liberal list, Madison and Ann Arbor were notably absent. Also missing from the top 25 list was Los Angeles, and other large cities ranked low, with Chicago coming in at no. 17 and New York appearing at no. 21.

Some New Yorkers said they were surprised that their city ranked only as the country's 21st most liberal.

[Dan Nunn]

These criticisms provided small consolation to New Yorkers still disappointed that their city was insufficiently liberal yesterday, as they pledged to push New York further to the left.

Aww, time for an off-the-cuff spontaneous gay pride parade to bump up a few spots. It's like the city gets a medal for being number one or something. If anything, it just means that God hates you, and your city will be the first to sink.

The mayor of Provo, Lewis Billings, said yesterday that he was unfazed by the distinction of leading the country's most conservative urban center.

Gee, it's like Provo was distinguished as 'crime capital of the country' with reporting like that. Poor city, infected with so many swells of upper class whites, bringing their morals and families into the community. Go Detroit!

Puke.

[mcg2000]

Homework assignment for the Times ...

Compare and contrast the cities in each of the following categories:

1.) Crime Rates
2.) Unemployment Rates
3.) City Wide Bond Ratings
4.) Public Education Scores
5.) Teen Pregnancy

Please report back on Monday (not)!

[Valin]

View the complete list of America's 237
most liberal and conservative cities.
http://www.votingresearch.org/

Tried to open it but for some reason my computer won't let me. I suspect a plot!

[HangnJudge]

Homework assignment for the Times ...

Please add correlation coefficients and error bars
Neatness counts too

[IronJack]

You aren't implying that there would be any direct correlation between the liberal-ness of the city and sub-optimal levels of those criteria, are you?

[truth_seeker]

Ain't dat sumpin. Provo be a University town, too.

BYU, not Bezerkely.

And in Provo over 89 percent of adults have high school diploma, or higher.

In ancient days, hq. of Word Perfect electric typesetting company.

[HangnJudge]

You aren't implying that there would be any direct correlation between the liberal-ness of the city and sub-optimal levels of those criteria, are you?

The statistical analysis should not be done with any preconceived notions of expect outcomes, only to illuminate available truth in the data to be mined

[Dan Nunn]

I don't think it's that hard to agree with this article from the Provo Daily Herald, however.

"It shouldn't be surprising that a lot of Ph.D.s at BYU are Democratic -- I can say the D-word -- but on a lot of major social issues like homosexual marriage and abortion they would be conservative," he said. "I have met some pretty progressive Mormons here, even at BYU."

The problem many moderate LDS people have, he believes, is while politically they disagree with the traditional conservative or Republican view, they are against the social positions touted by liberals. They have to pick a side to come down on, and most come down on the conservative side.

I did take issue with that poll being entirely based upon the voting results of the 2004 election. As much as I support President Bush, he's not the representation of conservatism as I see it.

[mcg2000]

I am aware of certain cities and their performances within different categories. My hunch is a direct link exists between liberal leadership and underachieving areas ...

Which cities come to my mind for high crime rates? DC, Detroit, New Orleans, Gary, Memphis and LA.

How about our poorest public school systems? Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Cleveland and Memphis

How about STD's and teen pregnancy? New Orleans, San Fran, LA, NYC, Atlanta and Detroit.

Economic growth (failures)? Detroit, Memphis, Gary, New Orleans, Buffalo

City population growth (lack there of)? New Orleans, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Memphis, St Louis, Buffalo and Boston

As I said, I'm not specifically certain of the validity and would be interested in the actual information. My experience lends to the notion of there being more of a lean towards the gov't programs hurting growth and development (personal and professional).

[softwarecreator]

1.) Crime Rates
2.) Unemployment Rates
3.) City Wide Bond Ratings
4.) Public Education Scores
5.) Teen Pregnancy

And my wife wonders why I want to move as far from Detroit as possible.  I live about 40 miles away but it's still not enough for my taste.  If I had my choice the closest I would live to the "Motor City" would be Hilton Head, SC.

[Brilliant]

NY is liberal. If it's down the list, then that is an indictment of other cities, as well.

[a_dem_no_more]

I have said this before and will say it again. New York is only a liberal city, because everybody else's liberals come here. When people talk about NYC being liberal, they generally are refering to certain neighborhoods of Manhattan. Try burning a flag, in the Rockaways, (home to many heroes who died on 9/11) or in Bensonhurst or Howard Beach or anywhere on Staten Island. NYC is home to hundreds of Fortune 500 companies and Millionaire real estate moguls. NYC is not full of liberals, once you get off the island of manhattan.

[GoLightly]

You need to make sure you have something set up to handle ".doc" files with your browser & the files take awhile to load, so you have to wait patiently for them.

[HangnJudge]

As I said, I'm not specifically certain of the validity and would be interested in the actual information. My experience lends to the notion of there being more of a lean towards the gov't programs hurting growth and development (personal and professional).

I guess I shoud have implanted "sarcasm""/sarcasm" tags in my HTML

[dynachrome]

"In ancient days, hq. of Word Perfect electric typesetting company" This what Dan Blather used to type up the national Guard memos?

[IronJack]

I think we all know what a statistical correlation would show ... But facts never trouble liberals much anyway.

[mcg2000]

No harm/No Foul ... I shoulda known better ...

[GOPJ]

bump

[MadManDan]

Of course it would help if I still had my certificate or cd case of MS Word with the damn product key on it. Could somebody cut and paste the list and put it on here? I can't seem to find the actuall list anywhere else on the internet either. Thanks

[GoLightly]

I know that feeling! Tech support for my computer's manufacturer has had to give me the key numbers for my operating system a couple of times. I have a feeling it's the reason the manufacturer started putting it on a sticker on the CPU's. If you bought Word as a stand alone & you registered you purchase with MS, contact them & ask them. Another thing you could do would be to download a shareware prog to handle doc files.

In the meantime, here's the list (the "conservative" list was the same cities, in inverse order):

America’s Most Liberal Cities
Rank City State
1 Detroit Michigan
2 Gary Indiana
3 Berkeley California
4 District of Columbia
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
26 New Orleans Louisiana
27 Ann Arbor Michigan
28 Jersey City New Jersey
29 Portland Oregon
30 Daly City California
31 Atlanta Georgia
32 Dallas Texas
33 Hayward California
34 Madison Wisconsin
35 Pittsburgh Pennsylvania
36 St. Paul Minnesota
37 Los Angeles California
38 Rochester New York
39 Memphis Tennessee
40 Milwaukee Wisconsin
41 Vallejo California
42 Dayton Ohio
43 Bridgeport Connecticut
44 Springfield Massachusetts
45 Syracuse New York
46 Jackson Mississippi
47 Jackson Mississippi
48 Akron Ohio
49 Denver Colorado
50 Richmond Virginia
51 El Monte California
52 Pasadena California
53 Toledo Ohio
54 Eugene Oregon
55 Elizabeth New Jersey
56 Cincinnati Ohio
57 Santa Rosa California
58 Worcester Massachusetts
59 Kansas City Missouri
60 Kansas City Kansas
61 Durham North Carolina
62 Sunnyvale California
63 Alexandria Virginia
64 Fremont California
65 Tallahassee Florida
66 Pomona California
67 Lansing Michigan
68 Erie Pennsylvania
69 Savannah Georgia
70 Long Beach California
71 Sacramento California
72 Greensboro North Carolina
73 Hollywood Florida
74 San Jose California
75 Norwalk California
76 Lowell Massachusetts
77 Aurora Colorado
78 Columbus Ohio
79 Concord California
80 Norfolk Virginia
81 Salinas California
82 Columbia South Carolina
83 South Bend Indiana
84 North Las Vegas Nevada
85 Oxnard California
86 Fort Lauderdale Florida
87 Portsmouth Virginia
88 Raleigh North Carolina
89 Pembroke Pines Florida
90 Burbank California
91 Glendale California
92 Stamford Connecticut
93 Austin Texas
94 Virginia Beach Virginia
95 Salt Lake City Utah
96 Tacoma Washington
97 Des Moines Iowa
98 Athens Georgia
99 Bellevue Washington
100 Hampton Virginia
101 Brownsville Texas
102 Little Rock Arkansas
103 West Covina California
104 Orlando Florida
105 St Petersburg Florida
106 Downey California
107 Fontana California
108 Tampa Florida
109 San Bernadino California
110 Augusta Georgia
111 Beaumont Texas
112 Stockton California
113 Aurora Illinois
114 Warren Michigan
115 Laredo Texas
116 El Paso Texas
117 Grand Rapids Michigan
118 Coral Springs Florida
119 San Diego California
120 Miami Florida
121 Nashville-Davidson Tennessee
122 Santa Ana California
123 Joliet Illinois
124 Rockford Illinois
125 Charlotte North Carolina
126 Tempe Arizona
127 Yonkers New York
128 Fayetteville North Carolina
129 Cedar Rapids Iowa
130 Reno Nevada
131 Fort Collins Colorado
132 Pueblo Colorado
133 Las Vegas Nevada
134 San Buenaventura California
135 Moreno Valley California
136 Tucson Arizona
137 Ontario California
138 Huntsville Alabama
139 Newport News Virginia
140 Salem Oregon
141 Peoria Illinois
142 Knoxville Tennessee
143 Spokane Washington
144 Winston-Salem North Carolina
145 Albuquerque New Mexico
146 Honolulu Hawaii
147 Columbus Georgia
148 Grand Prairie Texas
149 Chattanooga Tennessee
150 Green Bay Wisconsin
151 Louisville Kentucky
152 Waterbury Connecticut
153 Lakewood Colorado
154 Montgomery Alabama
155 Indianapolis Indiana
156 Shreveport Louisiana
157 Independence Missouri
158 Westminster Colorado
159 Manchester New Hampshire
160 Chula Vista California
161 Palmdale California
162 Sterling Heights Michigan
163 Fort Worth Texas
164 Topeka Kansas
165 Vancouver Washington
166 Fresno California
167 Mobile Alabama
168 Riverside California
169 Irvine California
170 Lexington-Fayette Kentucky
171 Torrance California
172 Phoenix Arizona
173 McAllen Texas
174 Arvada Colorado
175 San Antonio Texas
176 Henderson Nevada
177 Houston Texas
178 Springfield Illinois
179 Evansville Indiana
180 Livonia Michigan
181 Baton Rouge Louisiana
182 Irving Texas
183 Omaha Nebraska
184 Boise City Idaho
185 Thousand Oaks California
186 Mesquite Texas
187 Lincoln Nebraska
188 Sioux Falls South Dakota
189 Modesto California
190 Costa Mesa California
191 Oceanside California
192 Naperville Illinois
193 Fort Wayne Indiana
194 Springfield Missouri
195 Chesapeake Virginia
196 Pasadena Texas
197 Waco Texas
198 Jacksonville Florida
199 Chandler Arizona
200 Anaheim California
201 Clarksville Tennessee
202 Carrollton Texas
203 Corpus Christi Texas
204 Scottsdale Arizona
205 Fullerton California
206 Santa Clarita California
207 Glendale Arizona
208 Wichita Kansas
209 Garland Texas
210 Rancho Cucamonga California
211 Tulsa Oklahoma
212 Lancaster California
213 Huntington Beach California
214 Overland Park Kansas
215 Anchorage Alaska
216 Oklahoma City Oklahoma
217 Clearwater Florida
218 Corona California
219 Simi Valley California
220 West Valley City Utah
221 Garden Grove California
222 Cape Coral Florida
223 Arlington Texas
224 Allentown Pennsylvania
225 Peoria Arizona
226 Escondido California
227 Mesa Arizona
228 Orange California
229 Lafayette Louisiana
230 Bakersfield California
231 Colorado Springs Colorado
232 Gilbert Arizona
233 Plano Texas
234 Hialeah Florida
235 Abilene Texas
236 Lubbock Texas
237 Provo Utah