Geographic political divides in countries

[Platypus]

Basically.

The country votes for the coalition..with exceptions (high % aboriginal areas, some but certainly not all mining towns, etc. It really depends on the town you're in, but basically the bush is conservative, especially outside the southeast-but the coalition gets higher percentages in the southeast, because the bush in VIC and NSW is more economically conservative then up north and over west. Plus, as I said before, aboriginal votes. Big towns (Newcastle, Ballarat etc.) with a strong industrial/union presence, vote ALP.

The cities...The inner city is left wing. The middle suburbs split-working class, generally ALP; Upper class-generally Liberal. Both vote primarily on economics; it could even be said that they are socially opposite the parties they vote for in many areas. A good example of this is the seat of Prahran, in eastern Melbourne, held by Peter Costello. High Green vote feeding off into the Liberals. The middle class ones are voting ALP in Melbourne and Liberal everywhere else-this was particularly seen in Perth last election (aided by the lack of Beazley of course).

The outer suburbs are different again. Lots of lower-middle-classers, with historic tendancies to the ALP, are voting for the Liberals. These guys are known as 'Howard's battlers' or if a bit better off, 'aspirational voters'. The mortgage belt which won Howard certainly 2004, and helped a lot in 1996 and 2001. 1998 was just weird, so... Even then, the mortgage belt differs. In Sydney, south of the harbour it still votes ALP; north of the harbour always Liberal. In Melbourne, northeast always ALP, eastern suburbs generally Liberal.

But then there's state piolitics, where the same people vote ALP because they like education and healthcare focusses alongside their low interest rates. This was especially seen in the last Victorian election, when the normally solid light blue eastern suburbs all went crimson red. I'm quite a fan of comparing the differences.

ANYway, basically.

East Coast:More conservative the further north you go

Center: More conservative the more inland you go

West: More conservative the further east you go

(But even then, they are all wrong, so, basically, The easiest is, for the whole country, 'the further you get from aboriginal areas, inner cities, union towns, and hippie zones you get, the more conservative')

[Platypus]

areas of opposition strenght in the Far South (bordering on the areas of opposition strength in Malaysia )

IE, the (relatively) hardcore islamic areas.

[Platypus]

areas of opposition strenght in the Far South (bordering on the areas of opposition strength in Malaysia )

IE, the (relatively) hardcore islamic areas.

Nah, just plain and simple the islamic areas.

I phrased it that way because of Malaysia.

[Platypus]

Kirchner was the gobernador of Santa Cruz, wasn't he? Geez that place needs work. Still, it's beautiful.

Where abouts do you live? I presume BsAs, which is a pretty cool place, although I never left the Capital federal. My favourite major city in Argentina was Cordoba, though; my least favourite Corrientes.

[Platypus]

Didn't go to Salta, didn't like Mendoza (open sewers=major negative).

Rosario was pretty funky. I was there twice; the first time for a week, the second for two days. It's got a nice CBD/centro to walk around, and the river is pretty cool; I was particularly enarmoured with my day sitting on the beach on the river, with a plane overhead constantly repeating an ad for "New Yorrrrk Shopping-el mejoooorrrr de Rosario, Provincia de Santa Fe.....New Yorrrrk Shopping...."

The Monument to the Flag is the most impressive phallic symbol i've ever seen, as well, although el obelisco comes close. I find the fact that you have a massive tower devoted to a flag, that has no flag flying on top of as oddly comforting...that said, the plaza and surrounding buildings were pasted with flags, possibly because of the World Cup.

Anyway, I really liked the Riverside, and I was staying in an area of Rosario known as 'Barrio Pichincha' which was a bit out of town (40 minutes walk along the river, maybe 30 minutes direct) which was a bit run down, but still pretty nice. I discovered you could buy a 2-bedroom house there for $30,000 pesos, which is a pretty attractive price for me...that's about $10,000 USD which is a car over here :S

Anyway, Rosario was pretty cool, and I could def. live there, but it didn't really have any sizzle. It was plain, comfortable and friendly, but Cordoba was laid back and crazy, hectic and slow...Cordoba is a kind of place where everything is in the right-now, and as a tourist that's a great thing. Maybe as a resident Cordoba would suck, but it's a great place to visit.

[Platypus]

And for Rosario, those who knew it some time ago say it has improved a lot recently. I dare to say this in a US forum, but... the socialists have ran it quite well for the last 16 years.

Possibly so, also I have to admit the souless apartment buildings everywhere were a bit depressing.

Nothing compares to Buenos Aires in size and importance, and also in diversity, but... sure it was nice, but it isn't really a city that suits me all that well I suppose. I much preferred Montevideo, which is like a smaller, safer, friendlier, better preserved, equally-priced BsAs with beaches, less obvious landmarks and a worse nightlife. Although Uruguayo pizzas SUCK, it was a pretty funky town; I was surprised so few Argentinos had ever gone there.

How do the more touristic Andean areas vote, and also Missiones? (Neuquen-Bariloche-Esquel etc.)

[Platypus]

those images don't work for me.

Rovira will still win, though, won't he?

Is there anything on the horizon to cause FplVictoria concern?

[Platypus]

ShjzohMartin (Argie pronunciation ), what's news now re: Missiones?