Reasons for the conservatism of these cities

[Mississippi Political Freak]

Hello! Let's take a break from the flood of redistricting threads.  It seems to be a consensus that most American cities are fairly to extremely liberal.  However, I like to know the reasons that the following following cities (and/or the counties containing them) are more conservative than most others, and my question focuses on the following 3 sets of cities:

A)Population Centers:

1. Fort Worth, Texas
2. Jacksonville, Florida
3. Tulsa, Oklahoma
4. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
5. Wichita, Kansas
6. Bakersfield, California
7. Charleston, South Carolina
8. Greenville/Spartanburg metro area, South Carolina
9. Virginia Beach, Virginia
10. Cincinnati, Ohio
11. Omaha, Nebraska
12. Lincoln, Nebraska
13. Manchester, New Hampshire
14. Anchorage, Alaska
15. Billings, Montana
16. Knoxville, Tennessee
17. Chattanooga, Tennessee
18. Fort Wayne, Indiana

B) State Capitals (Supposed liberal due to large number of gov't employees)

1. Carson City, Nevada
2. Jefferson City, Missouri
3. Bismarck, North Dakota
4. Topeka, Kansas
5. Harrisburg. Pennsylvania
6. Salem, Oregon
7. Boise, Idaho
8. Baton Rouge, Louisiana (Pre-Katrina)
9. Charleston, West Virginia
10. Pierre, South Dakota

C) College Towns (Almost uniformly liberal from most media perspectives)
1. All college towns in Oklahoma (Norman, Lawton and Stillwater)
2. Tuscaloosa, Alabama
3. Auburn Alabama
4. Oxford, Mississippi
5, Johnson City, Tennessee
6. Clemson, South Carolina

Sorry for my lengthy lists of queries, but I'd like to learn in-depth about the different factors that make cities liberal/conservative.  Thanks!

[freepcrusher]

Fort Worth votes republican, or at least is more republican than most cities, due to lack of minorities.

Bakersfield is more culturally similar to a place like Lubbock, even though its close to the somewhat left wing city of LA.

[phk]

Because they are in conservative regions?

[Beet]

Virginia Beach is tilted conservative, besides being in the South, because it is a heavily military contractor supported area.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Bismarck is located in the heart of West Dakota, which is far more conservative than the eastern part (West Dakota by the way is more like the west three quarters of the Dakotas than the half. And you could probably call the western half of Minnesota or at least the Red River Valley East Dakota too and wouldn't offend anyone, what's kind of amusing is that the people in that region think people from the Dakotas are city-slicker urbanites no different than people from Minneapolis or St. Paul. Which makes sense considering the population centers.) This is mostly due to it being far more German than Scandinavian, and that the economy is quite different, it's not all the wheat farmers from the Red River Valley and is more ranching, along with a lot of oil/natural gas (that's further west though), and in Bismarck things like banking and inflating the housing bubble are (or were in the latter case) as important to the economy as the state administration.

Bismarck also has hordes of ugly sprawl, mostly due to the fact that it was allowed to grow literally unrestricted. It also serves as a retirement community or economy sanctuary for people from the dying rural counties, which are uber-Republican. And it's far enough from the Twin Cities to be outside of its sphere of influence enough, unlike Fargo or Sioux Falls which have a slight influx of Twin Cities transplants. The migration pattern in Bismarck is the other way around, youngs move to the Twin Cities from it, and these tend to be more liberal. Exhibit A: Myself.

[Franzl]

Because they are in conservative regions?

Who would have thought it!?!

[iluvazutidwymt]

Fort Worth votes republican, or at least is more republican than most cities, due to lack of minorities.

Bakersfield is more culturally similar to a place like Lubbock, even though its close to the somewhat left wing city of LA.

Fort Worth actually voted for Obama narrowly. The suburbs in Tarrant County out-voted it. Sara, a former poster who is from California, but stuck in Texas until may, confirmed that with me.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

I think a lot of elections in Jacksonville/Duval county are racially polarized (I'm not sure, but I think I remember reading that somewhere, but I could certainly be wrong).  Although everywhere in Oklahoma is pretty right-wing, the more urban areas (by Oklahoma standards) have historically been more Republican, while the rural areas have historically been more "Democratic" (it's in quotes because the Democrats are people like Dan Boren).  I think a lot of Christian Coalition types moved to Wichita during the 90s.  By South Carolina standards, Charlestown isn't that Republican (in fact, it voted Democratic in the 2010 gubernatorial election).  Cincinnati itself isn't a rock-solid Republican area by any means (it has even leaned Democratic in recent Presidential elections).  However, Cincinnati's suburbs are hyper-Republican and can easily cancel-out Democratic margins in the actual city.  Knoxville and Chattanooga have been historically Republican and given the current political situation in Tennessee, there is no reason to expect them to vote Democratic.  Anchorage votes Republican because Republicans support drilling in ANWR.   

[JohnnyLongtorso]

Virginia Beach is tilted conservative, besides being in the South, because it is a heavily military contractor supported area.

Not entirely. The military has a big presence (including a significant number of veterans), but you've also got Pat Robertson and Regent University, as well as a lot of country club Republicans along the north end of the oceanfront and the rural conservative types who live in the southern part of the city (which is still largely undeveloped). In any other state, the latter two groups wouldn't be within the city limits, they'd be in the suburbs.

In a more general sense, the reason Virginia Beach is a conservative city is because it's not really a city; there's no urban center, it's a collection of subdivisions and strip malls.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

In Cincinnati's case, it's a long tradition of Big Business union-hating and religious conservatism. These days, however, the central city is a Democratic stronghold.

[memphis]

Lack of blacks, obviously.

[Mississippi Political Freak]

I think a lot of Christian Coalition types moved to Wichita during the 90s. 

So do you think the rightward turn of Wichita is the legacy of Operation Rescue in the early 90s?  Thanks!

[Mississippi Political Freak]

This is mostly due to it being far more German than Scandinavian, and that the economy is quite different, it's not all the wheat farmers from the Red River Valley and is more ranching, along with a lot of oil/natural gas (that's further west though), and in Bismarck things like banking and inflating the housing bubble are (or were in the latter case) as important to the economy as the state administration.

So I wonder why ranchers are generally conservative in their politics?

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So are Fargo and Sioux Falls less conservative, at least by the standards of the Dakotas?

And where are the most liberal cities in the Dakotas? (I bet Grand Forks, ND-ND State; Brooking, SD-SD State and Vermillion, SD-U of SD; as they are all college towns)

Thanks!

[nclib]

In the first list, most of those cities are (relatively) conservative because of endless sprawl within the city limits. It's really a collection of homes all under the same municipal boundary. The densities of such cities are lower than some Northern inner suburbs.

Also, some of those cities in the first list or the state capital list (Boise, Omaha, and Charleston, SC) are noticeably less conservative than their state.

Another issue with some state capitals is that several are located far from the most populous (and most liberal areas) of their state. Though in the case of Harrisburg, PA, it is heavily Democratic (and majority-black) but outvoted by its suburbs.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

So are Fargo and Sioux Falls less conservative, at least by the standards of the Dakotas?

Yeah. Both might actually be considered liberal cities if you limited them to the actual downtown and normal residential areas instead of the hideous sprawl around both of them which is still within the city limits. Not Twin Cities liberal though, more like the cities in Iowa.

And where are the most liberal cities in the Dakotas? (I bet Grand Forks, ND-ND State; Brooking, SD-SD State and Vermillion, SD-U of SD; as they are all college towns)

Thanks!

Grand Forks is more liberal than most of North Dakota though that has more to do with the region than the college. It's also just as much a military town than college town. There aren't any real liberal parts of North Dakota unless you count the Reservations. Kerry won only two legislative districts in it, one dominated by a Reservation and one in Fargo (and it was really close). Fargo has some areas with lots of hipster types and Twin Cities transplants now so it's turning into less of an overgrown hick town (that Bismarck remains), and it's worth noting that its counterpart in Minnesota Moorhead is now a reliably Democratic city.

Brookings is a swing city, Vermillion is basically the only predominately white reliably Democratic part of the Dakotas. No clue why Vermillion is so much more liberal.

[Brittain33]

Some of these cities, in particular Cincinnati, are places where it's quite easy to live a comfortable suburban lifestyle in a nice, relatively new home with a lot of land on a relatively low income. Ditto for Fort Worth. That dovetails well with voting Republican.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Some of these cities, in particular Cincinnati, are places where it's quite easy to live a comfortable suburban lifestyle in a nice, relatively new home with a lot of land on a relatively low income. Ditto for Fort Worth. That dovetails well with voting Republican.

The Cincinnati area has a very high cost of living though, for some reason.

[cinyc]

Brookings is a swing city, Vermillion is basically the only predominately white reliably Democratic part of the Dakotas. No clue why Vermillion is so much more liberal.

Vermillion is a college town.  The University of South Dakota's campus is there.   36% of the population is from 18-24.  

Yes, Brookings is home to South Dakota State with similar 18-24 demographics, but the city is twice Vermillion's size.  Vermillion also has only 9 men for every 10 women, while the ratio is closer to even in Brookings.  That's probably because most "State" land grant colleges in states with a U and State U tend to be more agricultural and engineering focused than their U counterparts.