What are the most conservative major metropolis centers?

[Fuzzybigfoot]

Most major city centers vote strongly for progressive candidates, and often times by very large margins.  


But there are a few major cities which, on the contrary, are very conservative.  What are the most conservative major cities?  Why are they so different that the rest in terms of political ideology?  



For those who commented first:
I am sorry, I was not specific enough in my first definitions.  When I said major cities, I was thinking specifically of the actual cities and not the metro areas.

A major city, in my view, is a Metropolis, a city with 500,000 inside it's limits and 1,000,000+ people in it's metro area.

Again, I am sorry for the mixup.

[Derek]

Phoenix is in the largest county that votes Republican. Overall, I'd say Jacksonville which is Duval County. They even post their budget online publicly. San Diego was actually very conservative for the 20th century. Cincinnati comes to mind too. However, it's very hard to find a conservative metropolitan area.

[Bo]

Many conservative cities have large military populations, who are typically Republican. I know San Diego is pretty Republican. What size cities do you want?

[Dgov]

Define "Conservative City"

I mean, Obama got only 61% of the vote in Houston (which is the highest percentage for a democrat since the 70s), which is the 3rd largest city in the US.  Compared to essentially any other city of that size, that is on average about 20 points more Conservative, and therefore "relatively Conservative"

if you want the most Republican large city, Jacksonville comes to mind, if for no other reason than it's the largest city McCain won in 08 (i think).

As for Conservative Metro areas, it again depends on what you define as "major".  The Dallas-Ft. Worth area usually votes 60-40 Republican, and it's the 4th largest in the US, but there are far more Republican areas if you define "Major" as smaller than that.

[Fuzzybigfoot]

Many conservative cities have large military populations, who are typically Republican. I know San Diego is pretty Republican. What size cities do you want?

A metropolis.  Any Metropolitian center that has 500,000 hundred thousand people in the city itself, and 1,000,000+ in the Metro area.

[Fuzzybigfoot]

Define "Conservative City"

I mean, Obama got only 61% of the vote in Houston (which is the highest percentage for a democrat since the 70s), which is the 3rd largest city in the US.  Compared to essentially any other city of that size, that is on average about 20 points more Conservative, and therefore "relatively Conservative"

if you want the most Republican large city, Jacksonville comes to mind, if for no other reason than it's the largest city McCain won in 08 (i think).

As for Conservative Metro areas, it again depends on what you define as "major".  The Dallas-Ft. Worth area usually votes 60-40 Republican, and it's the 4th largest in the US, but there are far more Republican areas if you define "Major" as smaller than that.

I was thinking more along the lines of the city centers themselves in a Metropolis, and if they vote for a Republican I would consider it a conservative city, even if the M.O.V. is narrow, because in comparison to most major city centers, they are pretty conservative.

[Swedish Rainbow Capitalist Cheese]

Stockholm

[Gren]

Here in Spain, things are just opposite. Suburbs do exist, both wealthy and working class, but not to the same extent as in the US, Canada or Australia. Affluent people tend to live in the inner city and they vote mainly for the right. You can see it clearly in some districts, like the Salamanca or Chamberí districts in Madrid, wich are very rich and vote +65% for the People's Party, or the Abando district here in Bilbao, which is the only one that the PP has ever won. In Autonomous Communities like Andalucía, Extremadura or Castilla la Mancha, the PP leads in almost every big city, while in rural areas it gets trounced by the left (that's especially true in Andalucía) In some others, like Castilla y León and Galicia, urban areas are more left wing than rural areas, but that's easy because rural areas there are very right-wing. However, voting for the center-right and being conservative is not the same thing; when I think about "conservative" I think about social conservatism, which is not very strong here, and I don't think upper class urban PP voters are socially conservative. So I guess it is difficult to say which is the most conservative metropolitan area... As for voting to the PP, Madrid and Valencia are the most right-wing, I'd say.

[Gloucestrian]

As for a big city(1,000,000+ in metro area), Oklahoma City(1,227,278 city+burbs).

[Hatman 🍁]

Calgary

[Fuzzybigfoot]

Here in Spain, things are just opposite. Suburbs do exist, both wealthy and working class, but not to the same extent as in the US, Canada or Australia. Affluent people tend to live in the inner city and they vote mainly for the right. You can see it clearly in some districts, like the Salamanca or Chamberí districts in Madrid, wich are very rich and vote +65% for the People's Party, or the Abando district here in Bilbao, which is the only one that the PP has ever won. In Autonomous Communities like Andalucía, Extremadura or Castilla la Mancha, the PP leads in almost every big city, while in rural areas it gets trounced by the left (that's especially true in Andalucía) In some others, like Castilla y León and Galicia, urban areas are more left wing than rural areas, but that's easy because rural areas there are very right-wing. However, voting for the center-right and being conservative is not the same thing; when I think about "conservative" I think about social conservatism, which is not very strong here, and I don't think upper class urban PP voters are socially conservative. So I guess it is difficult to say which is the most conservative metropolitan area... As for voting to the PP, Madrid and Valencia are the most right-wing, I'd say.

Interesting. Do you have any precinct maps?  That would be sweet.

[Del Tachi]

If by major metropolis centers you mean metro areas with populations greater than 200,000...

1. Chattnooga, TN
2. Roanoke, VA
3. Jacksonville, FL
4. Mobile, AL
5. Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX
6. Plano, TX
7. San Antonio, TX

Those are the first to come to my mind...

[All Along The Watchtower]

Jacksonville, FL
Wichita, KS
Oklahoma City, OK
Fort Wayne, IN
Colorado Springs, CO

etc.

[Derek]

I think Jacksonville takes the cake.

[tpfkaw]

I'm very surprised nobody has mentioned Orange County.

[memphis]

I'm very surprised nobody has mentioned Orange County.

1. It's not its own metro area (as much as it would like to be)
2. It's no longer the conservative bastion it once was. It almost voted for Obama and according to the census people is now 1/3 Hispanic.

[All Along The Watchtower]

I'm very surprised nobody has mentioned Orange County.

Yeah, Orange County has large Hispanic and Asian populations. And it has become more urban. For these reasons, it's no longer quite as conservative as it used to be.

[Dgov]

I'm very surprised nobody has mentioned Orange County.

That's part of the Los Angeles metro area, which is pretty decidedly un-conservative.

[timmer123]

Jacksonville, FL
Salt Lake City, UT
Oklahoma City, OK
Tulsa, OK
Charlottle, NC (formerly)
Fort Worth, TX
Phoenix, AZ
Orange County, CA

[BillyW]

If by major metropolis centers you mean metro areas with populations greater than 200,000...

1. Chattnooga, TN
2. Roanoke, VA
3. Jacksonville, FL
4. Mobile, AL
5. Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX
6. Plano, TX
7. San Antonio, TX

Those are the first to come to my mind...

Plano is part of the DFW metro area

[Hash]

Here in Spain, things are just opposite. Suburbs do exist, both wealthy and working class, but not to the same extent as in the US, Canada or Australia. Affluent people tend to live in the inner city and they vote mainly for the right. You can see it clearly in some districts, like the Salamanca or Chamberí districts in Madrid, wich are very rich and vote +65% for the People's Party, or the Abando district here in Bilbao, which is the only one that the PP has ever won. In Autonomous Communities like Andalucía, Extremadura or Castilla la Mancha, the PP leads in almost every big city, while in rural areas it gets trounced by the left (that's especially true in Andalucía) In some others, like Castilla y León and Galicia, urban areas are more left wing than rural areas, but that's easy because rural areas there are very right-wing. However, voting for the center-right and being conservative is not the same thing; when I think about "conservative" I think about social conservatism, which is not very strong here, and I don't think upper class urban PP voters are socially conservative. So I guess it is difficult to say which is the most conservative metropolitan area... As for voting to the PP, Madrid and Valencia are the most right-wing, I'd say.

Madrid used to lean Socialist in the not-so-distant past until it became increasingly solid for the right. Any idea why Madrid changed from being a "lean PSOE" area to "safe PP" area? Is it sociological or something with the nature of the parties?