White, Blue Collar Liberals/Democratic Voters

[Linus Van Pelt]

If the question is the percentage of blue-collar whites who are Democratic, then that doesn't require that most people overall, or most Democrats, be blue-collar white Democrats.

Blue-collar whites in most northern cities (here as opposed to suburbs) are a Democratic constituency. I believe from earlier precinct discussions on this forum that none of Seattle, Portland, Minneapolis or St. Paul has a Republican precinct that isn't a religious college or a very rich area, and yet there are definitely parts of these cities that are substantially white and blue-collar. Further east it gets a bit complicated with the history of white flight backlash, but there are still strongly Democratic working-class areas in places like the west side of Cleveland, much of Pittsburgh, etc.

My hunch would be that in some of these urban neighborhoods the D vote among blue-collar whites is higher than in any more rural area that stands out more on a map, but this is hard to prove. And of course "blue-collar white" is kind of a vague category.

[traininthedistance]

My guess for "county where the highest percentage of blue-collar whites vote Democratic" would be Berkshire, MA, with the main other contenders being Manhattan, San Fran, and adjoining areas in Western MA / Vermont.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

How many blue collar whites actually live in San Francisco?

Of course I'm sure the few that do are overwhelmingly Democratic.

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

There are plenty of blue collar Democrats in NJ.  How do you explain the influence that unions have combined with the fact that all our Republicans tend to be white-collar?  I would venture to guess that among whites in NJ, the blue-collar crowd votes much stronger for the Democrats than the white-collar crowd.  This is not usually the case. 

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

There are plenty of blue collar Democrats in NJ.  How do you explain the influence that unions have combined with the fact that all our Republicans tend to be white-collar?  I would venture to guess that among whites in NJ, the blue-collar crowd votes much stronger for the Democrats than the white-collar crowd.  This is not usually the case.

The only places where I can see that not being the case would be the West Coast and perhaps areas where most of the blue collar occupations are in the oil industry.

[Franknburger]

What is the common understanding of "blue collar"? Does it include what I would call "white coat" - nurses, supermarket cashiers, waitresses, beauty saloons,  i.e. typical low-to-middle education, low-to-middle income female professions? If so, this should be a prime Democrat-leaning demography.

[Asian Nazi]

Here in Western Washington, especially on the Olympic Peninsula, there are a LOT of blue collar white Democrats.

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

If the question is the percentage of blue-collar whites who are Democratic, then that doesn't require that most people overall, or most Democrats, be blue-collar white Democrats.

Blue-collar whites in most northern cities (here as opposed to suburbs) are a Democratic constituency. I believe from earlier precinct discussions on this forum that none of Seattle, Portland, Minneapolis or St. Paul has a Republican precinct that isn't a religious college or a very rich area, and yet there are definitely parts of these cities that are substantially white and blue-collar. Further east it gets a bit complicated with the history of white flight backlash, but there are still strongly Democratic working-class areas in places like the west side of Cleveland, much of Pittsburgh, etc.

My hunch would be that in some of these urban neighborhoods the D vote among blue-collar whites is higher than in any more rural area that stands out more on a map, but this is hard to prove. And of course "blue-collar white" is kind of a vague category.

Lower-income Portland neighborhoods without a significant urban professional or young adult contingent are strongly Democratic. Depending on the location, working class Portland neighborhoods regularly give Democratic candidates between 55% to 80% of the vote. Unfortunately, determining the percentage blue collar whites give to Democrats is tough in many of these neighborhoods because as gentrification proceeds, immigrants are relegated here and this is rapidly changing the character of East Portland.

In general in the NW, there is a pretty strong correlation between the white working class and prevalence of lower income Asian/Latino immigrants and even African-Americans to an extent that makes a determination of blue collar, white voting difficult.

Off the top of my head, here are some urban areas containing significant contingents of blue collar, white Democrats:
Tacoma
Spokane
Flint
Toledo
Youngstown
Allentown