Cold Climates

[English]

Realpolitik is correct. In the UK it's not the case that religious people vote Tory, often they vote Labour. Anglicans and baptists are the exception, usually they favour the Conservatives.
Jews are usually split, hardline Jews tend to be heavily Tory, no doubt due to that parties staunch support of Israel. Secular Jews tend to be more inclined to Labour. Muslims are very volatile, usually Labour, however often they just vote for whoever the Muslim candidate is. This has produced some astonishing results recently. In London's east end seat of Bow the Labour MP is Jewish, as a result the large and very poor Bangladeshi population pretty much votes en masse for the Tory candidate. This gives the Conservatives a remarkably high vote in a poor, inner city area.

[English]

Ryan, the urban/liberal, rural/conservative phenomonan works pretty much everywhere in the world, as well as in the US. In the UK every city and large town is Labour inclined, there are very few exceptions (I can't think of any!). In the US pretty much every city is inclined to the Democrats. There are 3 glaring exceptions however. Colorado Springs, Tulsa and Oklahoma City. All 3 of these are heavily Republican. In fact Tulsa and OK City are more inclined to GOP than the state as a whole. Bizzare! Jackson, Cincinatti, Indianapolis and Salt Lake City also seem to be quite inclined to the GOP but I understand they have voted Dem in recent history.

[CHRISTOPHER MICHAE]

I have a theory that the colder the place, the more liberal & benign the people, and it seems to hold true! Canada, Norway, Iceland, Sweden & Finland are all very cold, all very liberal. As opposed to places like Saudi Arabia, Iran and Pakistan which are stinking hot and very unliberal. It holds true for the US and UK. The South East of the UK is the warmest part and the most heavily Tory, whereas Scotland is the coldest part and the most liberal. In the US, the North East/Great Lakes are liberal, whereas the South is not. Anyone hazard a guess as to why? I think it may be because in cold countries people traditionally depend more upon the state and eachother to survive the winters. People simply have to get on when faced with freezing climates.

Your Hypothesis is not true. We had a Republican Governor for 12 years, who was very right wing. He just left office about a year and a half ago. I am from Upper Michigan, in its largest district, Marquette. And believe me, it gets very, very cold here in the Winters. Our summer one year was one whole beautiful hot day, the rest of it was either rainy or just plain cold. My district in the U.P. went Republican in the 2000 Presidential Race.

[English]

There will always be exceptions. By and large however I believe my hypothesis is true. Rural Minnesota for instance is conservative, but not to the extent that rural Mississippi is I'm sure. Alaska always votes Republican, however it's pretty libertarian. This is opposed to the sort of fundamentalist conservatism that exists in the deep south.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Actually rural Minnesota varies a lot(do you mean the farming areas or the iron mining area or both?) and ALL of Mississippii is rural.

Rural v Urban is innacurate, however suburban areas(not including working class "suburbs" and "new towns") are almost always right-wing.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

There are 3 glaring exceptions however. Colorado Springs, Tulsa and Oklahoma City. All 3 of these are heavily Republican.

Wichita is another screwed-up city like this.

[English]

Actually rural Minnesota varies a lot(do you mean the farming areas or the iron mining area or both?) and ALL of Mississippii is rural.

Rural v Urban is innacurate, however suburban areas(not including working class "suburbs" and "new towns") are almost always right-wing.

OK, bad analogy. I was refering to the farming areas, the mining Nth Est is strongly Democrat. I would still argue that in MOST cases urban dwellers are much more inclined to support parties of the left, even rich urban dwellers.
New York, Boston, Seattle, San Fransisco, Denver, LA, Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis, Baltimore ALL favour the Democrats in national elections. In the UK, London (minus suburbs), Manchester, Birmingham, Glagow, Liverpool, Leeds, Newcastle, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Nottingham all inclined to Labour. Most suburbs are right-wing, but those in the Nth Est are trending heavily to the Democrats.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

"mining Nth East" sounds about right

Farming areas also vary a lot(compare Iowa and Nebraska or Manitoba and Alberta...)
and in the U.K most hill farming areas are Liberal(big L not little l), whilst most arable areas are practically suburban nowadays and are very, very Tory.

BTW where's Wichita? I've heard the name before but can't remember where...

[Bleeding heart conservative, HTMLdon]

Wichita is in Kansas.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Ah...

[CHRISTOPHER MICHAE]

Ah...

My family heritage on my Mother's side are from Devonshire, England. Ever been there? If you have, what's it like? My ggggUncles were Buckingham Palace Guards under Queen Victoria.

[English]

I've been to Devon a few times. It's very nice. Lots of very quaint old villages and some stunning countryside. There is presently a big influx of Londoners to the county, many buying second homes and thus pushing up house prices. This is becoming something of a problem in many parts of Devon as it's pricing local people out of the market. Politically Devon has always been Tory apart from Plymouth and Exeter (Lean Labour) and North Devon (Liberal). Recently however the Tories have been in trouble here, the Liberals now hold most of the seats in Devon.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I went to Devon this year(near Barnstable in North Devon)

Devon is politically quite mixed.
Until the rise of the Labour party, Devon was a stronghold of the Liberals, but as Labour grew stronger the Liberals became weaker and as Socialism had never really appealed to Devon it became a Tory dominated county by default.
This began to change when the Liberal M.P for North Devon(Jeremy Thorpe), became leader of the Liberals and for a while it looked like they might be able to rebuild in the county.
But Thorpe's career ended in disgrace and he lost his seat to a Tory in 1979.
In 1992 a Liberal(note: although the party had merged with the SDP to form the Liberal Democrats, it is still more accurate to refer to the LibDems in rural areas as Liberals), won North Devon and in 1997 the Liberals picked up a lot of seats in the West Country and Devon was no exception.

The Liberals are strongest in the hill farming/ex iron ore mining North and West Devon, Labour dominate Plymouth and also hold Exeter, while the Tories are strongest in the more touristy South East where a lot of OAP's retire.

[bejkuy]

Here in Oregon, the Urban/Rural split is real.
The Suburbs are heavily liberal as well.  Washington county (Nike headquarters), to the east of Portland, was staunchly republican until late 80's when the population explosion hit.  Now it is reliably democratic.  
My theory for why Northwest suburbs are liberal, unlike the rest of the country, is because of the absence of organized religion here.  Oregon and Washington are 50th and 49th in church attendance.  The only reason southern and eastern Oregon (very rural) are so strongly republican is because of land use issues, gun rights, and other rural issues.

[CHRISTOPHER MICHAE]

I've been to Devon a few times. It's very nice. Lots of very quaint old villages and some stunning countryside. There is presently a big influx of Londoners to the county, many buying second homes and thus pushing up house prices. This is becoming something of a problem in many parts of Devon as it's pricing local people out of the market. Politically Devon has always been Tory apart from Plymouth and Exeter (Lean Labour) and North Devon (Liberal). Recently however the Tories have been in trouble here, the Liberals now hold most of the seats in Devon.

Thanks for the info on my ancestal homeland. I don't know if I'll ever get the chance to go there. My ancestral family name is Mitchell. George Mitchell and Anna Marie Hodge formed my mother's side of the family. There are books written on our family. One is called "The Descendants", by Ronald Drake.

[CHRISTOPHER MICHAE]

I went to Devon this year(near Barnstable in North Devon)

Devon is politically quite mixed.
Until the rise of the Labour party, Devon was a stronghold of the Liberals, but as Labour grew stronger the Liberals became weaker and as Socialism had never really appealed to Devon it became a Tory dominated county by default.
This began to change when the Liberal M.P for North Devon(Jeremy Thorpe), became leader of the Liberals and for a while it looked like they might be able to rebuild in the county.
But Thorpe's career ended in disgrace and he lost his seat to a Tory in 1979.
In 1992 a Liberal(note: although the party had merged with the SDP to form the Liberal Democrats, it is still more accurate to refer to the LibDems in rural areas as Liberals), won North Devon and in 1997 the Liberals picked up a lot of seats in the West Country and Devon was no exception.

The Liberals are strongest in the hill farming/ex iron ore mining North and West Devon, Labour dominate Plymouth and also hold Exeter, while the Tories are strongest in the more touristy South East where a lot of OAP's retire.

Thanks for the info on my Ancestral Homeland. I appreciate it.  My family name is Mitchell, George Mitchell and Anna Marie Hodge formed what is now my Mother's side of the family. Books have been written on it, one by Ronald Drake, called "The Descendants."

[English]

The Liberals are strongest in the hill farming/ex iron ore mining North and West Devon, Labour dominate Plymouth and also hold Exeter, while the Tories are strongest in the more touristy South East where a lot of OAP's retire.

Even in South East Devon the Tories are in trouble. The Lib Dems stole Torbay in 1997 and have turned it into a safe seat. Then in 2001 they won Teignbridge off the Tories. They also came close to winning Totnes in 1997.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

They nearly won TOTNES??? I knew they came close in Tiverton and Honiton(and will probably pick it up next election), but the Tiverton part of that seat is like North Devon.
But Totnes? They really ARE in trouble down sou-west...

[Gustaf]

I will make a futile attempt at getting this discussion back on topic, since I find it interesting. I think the real climate rule is that colder countries are more decent and better off than hot ones. Look at tropical states like Congo or Indonesia. They're among the most messed up in the world. South Africa is the coldest in Africa and they are doing better than many of the others. Countries like Iceland and Canada are among the most successful in the world when it comes to measuring everything.

Finally, I will once again bore you with a Swedish perspective...

Here, the capitol trends right, whereas other big cities are to the left (I think so anyways, but its hard to tell in a country where everyone trends left). Northern rural areas are left-winged, southern ones are to the right. Rich suburbs are, of course, to the right. So there are similar patterns, but not identical. Isn't the Dems more federal than the Reps, states rights, etc. and that explains urban/rural differences?
 

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Interesting...

Northern Sweden includes those huge iron mines...
My mining theory gains ground!

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Isn't the Dems more federal than the Reps, states rights, etc. and that explains urban/rural differences?

The Republicans support states' rights only when it suits their purposes.

For example, they want to pass a federal "right to work" law, which would be imposed on states that don't already have one. ("Right to work" is a big misnomer.) Yet they trot out the states' rights argument to justify opposing a federal law to prevent states from having "right to work" laws.

Republicans also want federal courts to annul Oregon's death with dignity law that was passed by that state's voters in a referendum.

[English]

Areas with a history of heavy industry are always left wing. That's the nature of left wing parties surely? Historically they are the parties of working class, blue collar workers. The Cornwall seat of Falmouth & Camborne used to be safely Labour for years, because of the tin mines, similarly with Forest of Dean (coal). I'm sure this is applicable in all developed countries?

[Gustaf]

Areas with a history of heavy industry are always left wing. That's the nature of left wing parties surely? Historically they are the parties of working class, blue collar workers. The Cornwall seat of Falmouth & Camborne used to be safely Labour for years, because of the tin mines, similarly with Forest of Dean (coal). I'm sure this is applicable in all developed countries?

Yep, probably is! What about capitol cities? In Sweden it leans to the right but D.C. (to put it mildly) leans to the left. What about London, or other capitols? Paris has been right-winged for a long time, but was recently won by the left.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

London is a huge place(over 6 million people) and is very varied.

Basically the working class East End is solid Labour, while the inner suburbs are either Tory or LibDem(except Thatchers old seat of Finchley and Golders Green!)

[CHRISTOPHER MICHAE]

Areas with a history of heavy industry are always left wing. That's the nature of left wing parties surely? Historically they are the parties of working class, blue collar workers. The Cornwall seat of Falmouth & Camborne used to be safely Labour for years, because of the tin mines, similarly with Forest of Dean (coal). I'm sure this is applicable in all developed countries?

Not always my friend, not always. I live in Marquette, Michigan, the Iron Ore Mining range of the Upper Penninsula. It's the area commonly mistaken as being part of Wisconsin. We are connected to Lower Michigan via the Mackinaw Bridge. IN Election 2000, my District, the Largest voting district in the U.P. OR Upper Michigan, went Republican. We are loaded with Blue Collar Workers.