what are some of the traditional political divides within states

[old timey villain]

North Georgia is heavily Republican, with its loyal to party roots going all the way back to the 1800s. Democrats were more competitive here in past decades, but the amount of Republicanism present was far greater than their virtual non-presence throughout the rest of state. The SE interior of the state is also very Republican in the modern day.

The Fall Line is the predominant geographic divide in Georgia and the Democrats traditionally speaking have dominated on both sides of it as it runs from SW to NE. There's also the Atlanta metro area and the areas along the coast.

So basically, it looks similar to a ying-yang or percentage symbol.



and that red dot gets bigger and bigger with each cycle

[old timey villain]

It's funny to me to look at a map of Missouri in which a Democrat barely wins (McCaskill 2006). Visually, it's a sea of red with a few islands of blue, but I guess in Missouri those blue dots are where most of the voters are.

[old timey villain]

Here's a cool map of metro Atlanta in 2008



As you can see, there's a core base of democratic support in the city of Atlanta and the inner southern suburbs. This is where there's a ton of black voters and hipster liberals. Then it gets interesting as that blue sort of fans out in all directions from the city along the interstates- this is also where a lot of minority voters live. Then, as you get farther out into the outer suburbs it becomes almost blood red. These areas are white and conservative, and people there only go into the city for Braves games and concerts. And god forbid MARTA tries to expand into their communities.

In terms of areas outside ATL that are white and liberal, you'll really only find that in areas of Dekalb county like Decatur and a few scattered areas of North Fulton where a lot of wealthy northeastern transplants have put down roots.

For the most part, there aren't really any swingy regions in the metro area. The Democratic regions are super, super democrat, and the Republican regions are almost maniacally loyal to the GOP.

[old timey villain]

Here's a cool map of metro Atlanta in 2008



As you can see, there's a core base of democratic support in the city of Atlanta and the inner southern suburbs. This is where there's a ton of black voters and hipster liberals. Then it gets interesting as that blue sort of fans out in all directions from the city along the interstates- this is also where a lot of minority voters live. Then, as you get farther out into the outer suburbs it becomes almost blood red. These areas are white and conservative, and people there only go into the city for Braves games and concerts. And god forbid MARTA tries to expand into their communities.

In terms of areas outside ATL that are white and liberal, you'll really only find that in areas of Dekalb county like Decatur and a few scattered areas of North Fulton where a lot of wealthy northeastern transplants have put down roots.

For the most part, there aren't really any swingy regions in the metro area. The Democratic regions are super, super democrat, and the Republican regions are almost maniacally loyal to the GOP.

as is tradition (in the South).

There aren't many swing voters in the deep south because of racially polarized voting. It exists in GA and it's even worse in Alabama and Mississippi. Black voters feel a strong allegiance to the Democratic party, which is true in the rest of the US. But down here, the white voters also feel a strong allegiance the the Republican party. It transcends class, income, gender and even ideology sometimes. You may hear plenty of white people down here expressing doubts about Mitt Romney, but I can almost guarantee that they will vote for him in November, simply because he's the GOP nominee.

Among a lot of whites, I think that still, even in this day and age, there is the perception that a stealth race war being fought, and with rising black population and prominence, a lot of white people are freaked out. The GOP tapped into this fear years ago and now they have a lock on this vote.

And just an FYI, I am white and was born and raised in Georgia, so I hear these sentiments a lot from white people that they might not say among mixed company.