The Growing Blue-State Diaspora

New York Times ^ | August 23, 2014 | Robert Gebeloff and David Leonhardt

[reaganaut1]

Californians have moved to Colorado and Nevada. Massachusetts natives have moved to New Hampshire. New Yorkers have moved to North Carolina and Virginia — and, of course, have continued moving to Florida.

Over the last few decades, residents of many traditionally liberal states have moved to states that were once more conservative. And this pattern has played an important role in helping the Democratic Party win the last two presidential elections and four of the last six. The growth of the Latino population and the social liberalism of the millennial generation may receive more attention, but the growing diaspora of blue-state America matters as well.

The blue diaspora has helped offset the fact that many of the nation’s fastest-growing states are traditionally Republican. You can think of it as a kind of race: Population growth in these Republican states is reducing the share of the Electoral College held by traditionally Democratic states. But Democratic migration has been fast enough, so far, to allow the party to overcome the fact that the Northeast and industrial Midwest contain a smaller portion of the country’s population than they once did.

The migration helped President Obama win Colorado, Florida and Virginia in both 2008 and 2012. In 2014, the influx of blue-state natives gives Democrats a better chance to win Senate races in Colorado, Georgia and North Carolina, among other places.

The spread of people born in New York State offers a particularly telling example: Of the 20 million Americans alive today who were born in New York, nearly one in six now live in the South. That would have been almost unthinkable 50 years ago, when the share was one in 25.

[fso301]

Earlier this summer I was with the family in a shopping mall and we bumped into one of my sons social studies teachers who had resigned at the end of the school year to take a job in Virginia teaching. She and presumably her husband are liberals. Both are teachers but taught at different schools.

When asked how it was that she was going from RI to VA, she said the Virginia school district held a job fair here in RI.

I asked if there are not enough teachers in VA? She giggled and said the VA county school board wants its teachers to represent a "more accurate" cross section of America.

[Opinionated Blowhard]

They are like locusts. They destroy their homes and move on to a new home to destroy.

[vette6387]

“If blue state policies work so well, why do their residents leave — and support the same policies that caused them to leave? “

In the vernacular, this is what’s called moving after you’ve crapped up your own nest! The problem is the timeline quoted in the doesn’t go back far enough. Until Jerry the Fairy became governor here in California for the first time (back when he was knocking boots with Linda Ronstadt), this state had been solid Republican. But the westward migration of the Liberal Trash from the Northeast had finally reached critical mass here back then, and this state has been forever transformed. Now “native-born” Coloradans and other Western states are pi$$ed off at California because they see our state’s liberals moving back to their states because they’re not happy with the outcome that their original migration brought. And, as some here have pointed out, this “migratory crap” probably doesn’t even make the connection between their “liberal feelings” and the reality of what they wrought here.

[Alberta's Child]

This article illustrates why the Great Plains will be the last bastion of conservatism in North America. All of the migration noted here is from cold-weather states to warm-weather states. A few more harsh winters in the Northeast, and the only ones left will be those who are hardy enough to handle whatever Mother Nature gives them.

[DNME]

Look at what the silly bastards did to New Hampshire! Once a reliably conservative and Republican stronghold, now even NH drivers act like Massholes.

Any chance they could pass a law that new residents of the state can’t vote for their first 10 years after arrival?

[snappahead]

And when they see it at work for themselves i.e.Ferguson, they cry out that the effect is somehow morally unjust, and therefore set out to change the outcome of any and all behaviors.

The ‘effect’ is what they seek to change, so that the cause is justified

[amnestynone]

It used to be that migrants from the north made the south more Republican. One thing people did not notice is that that is one reason why those northern states became more Dem(GOPers moving south). I think people aren't watching the reverse that some of those states in the north might becoming more GOP friendly with the Dem Exodus. (Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and a few others. It won't take much more.

[SnuffaBolshevik]

While it is undoubtedly true that many interstate movers are libs, not all are.

A certain portion of the population of Blue states are conservative to very conservative, residing in those states due to a misfortune of birth, employment, family ties, or other circumstances.

My point: Please don’t paint all Calis and Yankees crossing your state border with a broad brush. Having lived among these idiots, we know far too well how screwed up our states are and only want to be among like minded people.

See ya’ll soon.

[Pearls Before Swine]

Red state pollution. Where’s the EPA (Environmental Political Association) when you need them? Let’s keep the concentration of uber-liberals down to a few ppm in conservative areas. Hell, let’s create national conservative districts, just like the Prez creates national monuments to inhibit use of the land.

[KarlInOhio]

I asked if there are not enough teachers in VA? She giggled and said the VA county school board wants its teachers to represent a "more accurate" cross section of America. 

"In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards." - Mark Twain 

[grumpygresh]

It’s progressivism. The goal is the dumbing down and softening of the American people. They have indoctrinated their victims through the media, cultural and educational institutions. The disease of progressivism has infected all states. Only a few areas have limited immunity.

[billyboy15]

you can do anything with statistics and this is a perfect example.

Dems have won 6 0f last 8 residential elections but Republicans have won 7 of last 12. Republicans have also controlled the Congress 12 of last 20 yrs and the House 16 of last 20 yrs.

[kabar]

Demography is destiny.

[Vision]

They’re narcissists.

[kabar]

I think people aren't watching the reverse that some of those states in the north might becoming more GOP friendly with the Dem Exodus. (Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and a few others. It won't take much more.

Dream on.

[Jewbacca]

” I think people aren’t watching the reverse that some of those states in the north might becoming more GOP friendly with the Dem Exodus. (Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and a few others. It won’t take much more.”

Doubtful. Once ruined, it’s almost impossible to turn back, in that there is no future in such a state for anyone who actually works.

The only thing that could turn PA is if you nuked Philly.

[kabar]

The non-Hispanic white population is projected to peak in 2024, at 199.6 million, up from 197.8 million in 2012. Unlike other race or ethnic groups, however, its population is projected to slowly decrease, falling by nearly 20.6 million from 2024 to 2060.

Meanwhile, the Hispanic population would more than double, from 53.3 million in 2012 to 128.8 million in 2060. Consequently, by the end of the period, nearly one in three U.S. residents would be Hispanic, up from about one in six today.

The black population is expected to increase from 41.2 million to 61.8 million over the same period. Its share of the total population would rise slightly, from 13.1 percent in 2012 to 14.7 percent in 2060.

The Asian population is projected to more than double, from 15.9 million in 2012 to 34.4 million in 2060, with its share of nation's total population climbing from 5.1 percent to 8.2 percent in the same period.

Among the remaining race groups, American Indians and Alaska Natives would increase by more than half from now to 2060, from 3.9 million to 6.3 million, with their share of the total population edging up from 1.2 percent to 1.5 percent. The Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander population is expected to nearly double, from 706,000 to 1.4 million. The number of people who identify themselves as being of two or more races is projected to more than triple, from 7.5 million to 26.7 million over the same period.

The U.S. is projected to become a majority-minority nation for the first time in 2043. While the non-Hispanic white population will remain the largest single group, no group will make up a majority.

All in all, minorities, now 37 percent of the U.S. population, are projected to comprise 57 percent of the population in 2060. (Minorities consist of all but the single-race, non-Hispanic white population.) The total minority population would more than double, from 116.2 million to 241.3 million over the period.

[McGavin999]

They totally destroy their own states and then the move in to our states and begin their nasty destruction here.

[BobL]

Looked up the word “gun”, not to be found.

I know MANY PEOPLE, including family members, that don’t want to move to a gun-unfriendly state. They may for short-term (one of the rare well-paying jobs there), but never to live out their lives. Likewise, I don’t know of anyone scared to move to South because of our “gun culture”, because anyone living in the US is living in our “gun culture”, the only question being whether the good guys are allowed to be armed too.

And that MUST BE affecting those states, economically. Give me two otherwise-equal job choices, one in a red and one in a blue state, and the blue state has A LOT of ground to cover before I’d consider moving there (and they’re usually more expensive, on top of that). I’ll take Kansas over Boston any day of the week...give me $50k in Kansas, and I’ll take it over $100k in New York, considering the high cost of living and the freedoms you have to give up.

[Moonman62]

You must mean non-white minorities like Ted Cruz.