Politics aside- would you rather live in a blue state or a red state?

[MaxQue]

What's wrong with trailer parks?

Well, American trailer parks tend to attract a very annoying kind of white people, unlike those in other countries.

[jimrtex]

Red state -

After you get to Claude and take a picture of the traffic light


Keep heading south another five miles:

[jimrtex]

Blue state -

Red states have McDonald's too, if that is your choice of fare,

[courts]

...(Kentucky, West Virginia, Montana, Alaska)

i could deal with those probably, although with my s.a.d. i'm not sure if i could deal with the alaskan winter. i'd also add idaho, wyoming, and maybe oklahoma and alabama (although there is the awful climate of the last 2) to that.... i'm really not a fan of hot and humid weather.

as far as blue states go, i guess colorado and new hampshire. actually the border between new hampshire and vermont is one of my favorite places to go. ugh this thread is making me sound like some sort of awful libertarian, isn't it?

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

An excellent photo essay extolling reasons for living in a red state, HockeyDude.  However, believe it or not, red states do have cities and blue states do have rural areas.

I'm aware of this.  But if one is going to do this exercise, one must be compelled to speak in generalities.  If we are going to talk blue and red, then we should be talking REALLY blue and red, and ignore swing states that are hard to define.  

Now, please tell me.  Where are you more likely to find trailer parks vs. huge cities?  Upscale college towns vs. desolate intersections?  Boring cookie-cutter exurbs vs. coastal metropolises?  
If you nitpick you can't even answer the question.  

You seem to have missed my main point which is that I think trailer parks, lonely intersections, and exurbs are in general better than huge cities, pretentious college towns, and coastal metropolises.  SF and NY may look quite picturesque and might be worth visiting occasionally, but there's no way I'd want to live in those overpriced urban enclaves.

[MurrayBannerman]

I love where I'm at now. I'm a red state, but right next to a large population center in a blue state (Chicago).

[Skill and Chance]

Keep in mind that we are generally talking about the difference between 60/40 one way and 40/60 the other way.  Or 2:1 in the most extreme (UT,OK,HI,VT) cases.  That leaves a substantial base of people who agree and disagree with you to interact with.  You can still find an vegan society in West Texas or a megachurch in San Francisco if you really want to.

[old timey villain]

Keep in mind that we are generally talking about the difference between 60/40 one way and 40/60 the other way.  Or 2:1 in the most extreme (UT,OK,HI,VT) cases.  That leaves a substantial base of people who agree and disagree with you to interact with.  You can still find an vegan society in West Texas or a megachurch in San Francisco if you really want to.

But you forget that in a lot of states, like the south, political divisions fall along racial lines. if you're a white, educated liberal in a small town in the deep south most people who share your partisan loyalties will be black people who still probably don't have much in common with you. They're also more likely to be more religious and socially conservative than you.

[Skill and Chance]

Yes, it does get pretty bad at the rural conservative extreme.  The 4 Obama voters in King County, TX probably value their anonymity way to much to ever get together for a 2012 victory party.

I think you have to add a libertarian/populist or religion dimension to find the worst fits.  You really wouldn't enjoy being a left-libertarian agnostic in Alabama or a Evangelical SoCon R in Massachusetts.  But some union D's would fit in better in KY than CA and some libertarian R's would fit in better in CA than KY.

[Oakvale]

Assuming we're reducing this to a state being 100% its areas that vote Republican or 100% its areas that vote Democrat, I prefer cities to desolate rural hellscapes littered with trailer parks and meth labs, so...

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

Let's see, I like:

• Suburban and rural areas
• Low taxes
• Low regulation

I'm also quite religious and conservative, so red state for me.

I like ...

• Urban areas
• Diversity in all areas
• high quality and readily available services
• the ability to walk where I need to go
• very secular

So it doesn't have to be a blue state, but I can't think of a big city in a red-state I would actually choose to live in.

[Fed. Pac. Chairman Devin]

I like to keep as much of my money as possible. Based off that I would say Nevada.

[nclib]

Certainly a blue state (even without taking into account politics). The only thing that keeps me here (other than family/friends) is the weather and cost of living.

There really isn't anything else that collectively defines "red" states  as opposed to  "blue" states other than their respective voting patterns-which is a tautology, of course.

Not in every single place, but there plenty of things that don't inherently have to do with politics, that are more common in a blue state or a red state.

[Badger]

This issue is more particular communities rather than entire states. Many conservatives here would more prefer living in rural central PA than in Austin, TX.

[Mechaman]

Red state -

After you get to Claude and take a picture of the traffic light


Keep heading south another five miles:

Hahahaha yes!  I thought this looked familiar!

[Mechaman]

As for the question, I can't really answer it the way it's framed.  I tend to prefer Mountain West states, which tend to fall on both ends depending on which state you're in.  There is a lot of natural beauty, marijuana, great breweries, and just generally nice and unoffensive people.  I really wish that more of America could be like the people in the mountain regions.  They choose to enjoy the world that they have more than trashing it.

[DC Al Fine]

As for the question, I can't really answer it the way it's framed.  I tend to prefer Mountain West states, which tend to fall on both ends depending on which state you're in.  There is a lot of natural beauty, marijuana, great breweries, and just generally nice and unoffensive people.  I really wish that more of America could be like the people in the mountain regions.  They choose to enjoy the world that they have more than trashing it.

Yes, but their seafood is awful.

[DemPGH]

I like warmth, beaches, and mountains, but also culture, so probably somewhere in Virginia. That might offer the best combination of all that. If I had to straight choose, though, I'd say a blue state with a mild climate - one that gets a respectable amount of summer. Maybe the west coast somewhere.

[fartboy]

red