Most Polarizing State

[Alcon]

I'd have to say Utah.  The ski areas are quite "latte liberal" (as stupid of a term as that is), and obviously we know about the Republican areas.

California and Florida both have lots of suburban Republicans.  They may be minorities in their counties, but they cast more votes than the rural Republicans.

Washington has a ton of moderate libertarian Democrats in the suburbs.  Oregon would be a decent option, though.

EDIT:  The problem with southern states is that the Democrats/liberals are often very socially conservative because they are black.

[Alcon]

How about Iowa?  This state has one of the most conservative senators AND one of the most liberal senators.

I don't know.  Iowa has so many counties where the other party got 40%+ that I'd honestly be surprised if there is that much division.

I'd add South Dakota to the list.  There are some counties as heavily Democratic as Washington DC and some counties even more heavily Republican than Utah.

Those are Indian Reservations, and they don't cast many votes.

I'd have to say Utah.  The ski areas are quite "latte liberal" (as stupid of a term as that is), and obviously we know about the Republican areas.

California and Florida both have lots of suburban Republicans.  They may be minorities in their counties, but they cast more votes than the rural Republicans.

Washington has a ton of moderate libertarian Democrats in the suburbs.  Oregon would be a decent option, though.

EDIT:  The problem with southern states is that the Democrats/liberals are often very socially conservative because they are black.

Yeah but how significant are the "ski areas" that you speak of? Where are they located and how many votes do you "attribute" to these areas?

Summit County is about 50-50 ski resort/standard Utah.  The parts with ski resorts (Park City) are very liberal.  However, you're right in that those aren't really big vote-getting areas.

But the real Democratic vote-getters in Utah are non-religious people.  And since the Mormons are quite conservative, the non-religious people generally contrast pretty heavily.

[Alcon]

Washington.

I remember a few months ago reading that a state senator had called for the state to be split right down the middle; dividing east and west.  The crux of the issue was the contentious Gregoire-Rossi election.  He argued that Eastern Washington and parts of the West voted for Rossi, while King County voted for Gregoire.  The same applies on the presidential level too.

You should see our Congressional vote map.



How is that for polarised?

What year is that?

2004

[Alcon]

Here is NC CD put in to the counties.

Is that based on individual counties, or just all counties in the Congressional Districts coloured to be the Congressional District's result?

[Alcon]

Here is NC CD put in to the counties.

Is that based on individual counties, or just all counties in the Congressional Districts coloured to be the Congressional District's result?

Just based on the CD coloured by the CD.. it is more then likely wrong, but this is the only way i knew how to do it....

You can find county breakdowns for the congressional races at the CNN site.  Basically, you just have to add up the counties that are split between congressional districts and just shade in the rest.

[Alcon]

Washington

Even though some Western counties vote Republican (i.e. Lewis, Skagit, Clark) they all are much smaller in population than King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties which are Democratic. Eastern Washington is overwhelmingly Republican, in the last two presidential elections, not a single Eastern Washington county voted for the Democratic candidate. I can't think of any states more polarized (geographically speaking) than Washington.

Washington is pretty polarised (especially on the congressional level - all of the counties in the West voted Dem, all in the east voted GOP), but probably not the most polarised (PA comes to mind), although definitely the most geographically polarised if you split down the middle of the state.

[Alcon]

I would say Washington. The state is divided into east and west so bad that there was talk of a split long ago. I know when I visit Seattle, and then go see my grnadmother in Spokane...two different worlds.

Never saw this, but Spokane voted Kerry.  We're polarised, but Bush didn't break 60% in the East, and Kerry didn't break 60% in the West.

I guess Washington has the cleanest geographic divider, at least with county maps. 

[Alcon]

I think Minnesota is pretty polarised - look at the 2000 Senate election where you had an ultraconservative Republican incumbent (Rod Grams) and a very liberal Democratic challenger (Mark Dayton).

Isn't California very polarised too? I've seen the maps where the liberal, multicultural areas are full of liberal Democrats (think San Francisco) but the 'Inland Empire' is overwhelmingly Republican.

Minnesota has a rather solid level of Democratic support - if you look at a Democratic percentage map, you'll notice it's something around 40%+ in the rural areas.

California is pretty polarised, but in an uneven way.  The county map belies that there are some very conservative suburban areas.  The inland empire is pretty uniformly Republican, but not ridiculously so.

It depends how you define polarised.  Arguably, the South is the most polarised in some ways.  In many places, there will be towns that are 50/50 black/white, with one precinct casting 90% Democratic votes and one 90% Republican.

[Alcon]

gporter,

I'm not kidding.  The liberal areas in Utah are very polarised relative to the conservative areas, and are adjacent to each other in many cases.  It depends how you interpret "polarised," as has been said.