Do you feel sorry for the white liberals in Birmingham, Alabama?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Actually I'm now convinced the exit poll that showed Obama in 2008 with just 10% of the white vote in Alabama had to be way off. I can't see that as possible with the county breakdown and even statewide numbers.

Obama had to get around just under 20% of the white vote each time, like about 18%. It's actually possible to draw a majority white (around 52% is what I got) state house district that voted over 71% for Obama in Birmingham. I was also able to draw a 60% Obama majority white district in Huntsville. And wow I found a >90% white precinct in Huntsville that Obama won! (granted with just 50% but still it's just 3% black!)

So how about Montgomery and Mobile? In Mobile I was able to get an over 53% Obama district that was also over 53% white and in Montgomery a just barely majority white district that gave Obama 54%. But these numbers are more consistent with Obama winning only about 10% of the white vote. Also worth noting the Mobile district had a generic R average, implying it would probably vote Republican in any non-presidential year. I should also point neither district would likely withstand VRA scrutiny since they are based around what's best described as "rather conservative but with a non-neglible white Democratic population" supermajority white precincts and then padded with very heavily black areas nearby.

[Maxwell]

I feel sorry for every person in Alabama.

I'm fully aware. Oklahoma > Alabama though.

[Badger]

Life is all about steping outside your comfort zone and trying new things and meeting new sorts of people. I can't imagine insisting that all your neighbors think just like you.

This is sort of BRTD's raison d' etre.

[traininthedistance]

I feel sorry for every person in Alabama.

Excepting perhaps Shelby County.

[RFayette]

I feel sorry for every person in Alabama.

Excepting perhaps Shelby County.

Or Huntsville.  Or the nice parts of Mobile.

I don't think suburban whites have it too bad in Alabama.

[Vega]

They chose to live there, so no, not really.

[RI]

Of course, I doubt BRTD feels sorry for conservatives in San Francisco (white or otherwise) despite an almost identical situation.

[checkers]

I grew up in a fairly approximate situation and I don't feel like I had it bad at all, so, no? In any big city there are going to be plenty of people with your political views.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Of course, I doubt BRTD feels sorry for conservatives in San Francisco (white or otherwise) despite an almost identical situation.

Nope, we don't feel sorry for Milton Friedman.

[morgieb]

Not really. Far worse to be a white liberal in rural Alabama, where even the blacks probably don't have a lot of common with you.

And unlike BRTD, I could deal with being dominated by opposing ideologies (despite growing up in a strong left-wing bubble).

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Of course, I doubt BRTD feels sorry for conservatives in San Francisco (white or otherwise) despite an almost identical situation.

Not really. I do sometimes wonder who the 162 people who voted for Romney in my precinct are (who make up only 8.15% of 2012 voters and are outnumbered more than 10:1 by Obama voters) and how they feel about living here, but "feeling sorry for them" is not something I'd say I feel.

[Thunderbird is the word]

At least they still get to have a now almost non-existent pocket of urban liberalism where you can be liberal and get to smoke in bars.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

On that note, I do actually feel sorry for Doug Jones. Or rather I did before he became a Senator, he came out well on that, but in the years running up to that it had to be pretty rough for him.

[bagelman]

Is Birmingham really that conservative? I'd understand feeling sorry for white liberals or most blacks stuck in Shelby or Winston county, or for white conservatives in Macon County, but Birmingham is a big city with diversity.

[thumb21]

No, why would I feel sorry for someone simply because they are an ideological minority in their area? I am in an ideological minority where I live but I move on because I have a life. Really ain't the end of the world.

[Dr. Arch]

I feel sorry for every person in Alabama.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Well now my answer is no because they're so close to such a killer f[inks]ing fest and can easily attend!