Posted on 08/16/2005 5:52:26 AM PDT by meandog
NEW STUDY RANKS AMERICA’S MOST LIBERAL AND CONSERVATIVE CITIES
Detroit tops liberal list; Provo, UT most conservative
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 researcher. “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)
Rank City State
1 Detroit Michigan
2 Gary Indiana
3 Berkeley California
4 Washington, D.C. Dist. 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
America’s 25 Most Conservative Cities
(in descending order)
Rank City State
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
What is I haven't read the study in depth. I'd bet that they do not take into account the subruban flight. The metro area can overwhelm the city proper in population.
The suburban and rural areas surrounding the city is where the conservatives live. I'd say that is the case for both Cincinnati and Columbus. And Columbus is fast becoming the non-productive cesspool full of leaches that other major liberal cities are famous for.
There ya go; it's there...just not in the top 25, perhaps due to the population distribution.
Lafayette Louisiana
I'm moving ASAP!!
They are not really measuring conservatism vs. liberalism, but Democrat voters vs. Republican voters.
You're right!!! It was taking me too much time changing the DOC over to straight text for me to read the entire list, but "shore 'nuff " #46 AND #47 are both Jackson, Mississippi!
http://votingresearch.org/USAliberalcities.doc
OK, that list of 237 most liberal cities puts a new twist on it. The bottom 25 cities of it are supposed to be the most conservative cities according to the original post. So it isnt the 25 most conservative cities in America, but the bottom of the 237 most liberal cities? That seems to change the meaning of it. HHmmmm. Is it that only 237 cities were checked? Or is it that the bottom 25 are considered to be "most conservative"? Maybe I should research the matter before I post this.
naaawwww... this is how I roll.
Only because it doesn't have a population over 100,000. For small cities, it would easily be top ten in the Left Wing column.
Simi Valley -- home of the library of the greatest president of the 20th Century and one of the two greatest men of the 20th Century. I'm sure you can guess the other.
sorry - that was the "Most Liberal" List
Here's the "Most Conservative" list
http://votingresearch.org/USAconservativecities.doc
Hey! I didn't label these! ;>)
They fixed the selection of Jackson, Mississippi .....
It is now #191 & #192 instead hehehehe
I figured the city of evil was bigger, but I see it has only about 30,000 people.
It also exhibits the hypocrisy of northern liberal elites.
I grew up in Watertown so thanks for the geographical information but I could navigate the area in my sleep.
There is no doubt that Newton borders Brighton but it is not really a "city" in the colloquial sense. Cambridge is a city. Newton has no business on a list of liberal cities.
Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Hard to imagine Abilene, TX as being liberal in any sense of the word.
Race
White 75744 38.3%
Black or African American 113108 57.19%
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.