Washington

[Redefeatbush04]

The colors are based on which party they voted for more in the last 20 elections, democrat or republican

The shade is based on which party they voted for in 2004

If it is tied 10-10 2004 is not included

[Alcon]

I'm afraid I'm not seeing any images.

[J. J.]

I'm seeing the third and fourth ones.

[Rob]

Interesting map. It's a microcosm of what is happening in the nation today- the Democrats are losing their populist base and gaining elitist Republicans.

[Alcon]

Interesting map. It's a microcosm of what is happening in the nation today- the Democrats are losing their populist base and gaining elitist Republicans.

Maybe, but not entirely - Klickitat, Skamania, and Clark are definitely libertarian areas that they have lost.

I miss winning Asotin, mostly because I think "Asotin" is cool-sounding.

EDIT: Oops, didn't see Clallam there - that's libertarian, too.

[Redefeatbush04]

Interesting map. It's a microcosm of what is happening in the nation today- the Democrats are losing their populist base and gaining elitist Republicans.

an extreme example of the democrats' loss of their populist base is west virginia:



Anyone know why this is happening? Are the democrats shifting from a populist-leaning party to a libertarian-leaning party?

[Frodo]

Interesting map. It's a microcosm of what is happening in the nation today- the Democrats are losing their populist base and gaining elitist Republicans.

an extreme example of the democrats' loss of their populist base is west virginia:



Anyone know why this is happening? Are the democrats shifting from a populist-leaning party to a libertarian-leaning party?

well, to put it all in context, as the Democratic Party becomes more heavily dependant on corporate donations, as well as donations from the wealthy, and therefore kowtows their votes to win corporate favor -especially in light of the implosion of labor unions in the early to mid 1980s that robbed the Democratic Party of their primary source of funding- they become more and more a party of the well-to-do, including Rockefeller Republicans who tend to be economically conservative and socially liberal, and live in major cities, especially along the coasts.  this in turn lends credence to charges by Republican partisans that the Democratic Party has become a party of the 'limousine liberals' and 'latte liberals', though not entirely given that the poorest of Americans still vote Democratic, even in the Deep South.

as the Democratic Party puts less and less emphasis on economics, so do working class Americans put less emphasis on economic matters when they vote.  this is why social hot-button issues like abortion, gay marriage, gun control, etc., are given such prominence, and is what has given the Republican Party its majority, and why it is making inroads into such traditionally economically liberal states like West Virginia and Wisconsin.

to put it frankly, my answer to your second question is 'yes'...unfortunately. 

[Rob]

I actually agree with Frodo. I suggest anyone who's interested to read Thomas Frank's What's the Matter with Kansas?- a biased, but entertaining and informative book. It gives a good analysis of why working class people tend to vote on social issues.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Up until recently I don't think it can be doubted that the national Democrats were heading in a more suburban-libertarian direction, and largely for the reasons Frodo mentioned.
Recent noises from various high profile national Democrats (and the facts that Reid was able to fix himself the Minority Leader spot without too much trouble and that they got Casey to run for Senate) suggests that they've finally realised that what they have been doing is electoral suicide.
I think in the next few years we're likely to see more attention on small town voters from the national Dems.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Up until recently I don't think it can be doubted that the national Democrats were heading in a more suburban-libertarian direction, and largely for the reasons Frodo mentioned.
Recent noises from various high profile national Democrats (and the facts that Reid was able to fix himself the Minority Leader spot without too much trouble and that they got Casey to run for Senate) suggests that they've finally realised that what they have been doing is electoral suicide.
I think in the next few years we're likely to see more attention on small town voters from the national Dems.

Bush ran worse in small towns in 2004 than in 2000.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Bush ran worse in small towns in 2004 than in 2000.

Bearing in mind the dire economic sitution of most of them (and it's got worse since 2000) he should have been crushed in them.

[Redefeatbush04]

Up until recently I don't think it can be doubted that the national Democrats were heading in a more suburban-libertarian direction, and largely for the reasons Frodo mentioned.
Recent noises from various high profile national Democrats (and the facts that Reid was able to fix himself the Minority Leader spot without too much trouble and that they got Casey to run for Senate) suggests that they've finally realised that what they have been doing is electoral suicide.
I think in the next few years we're likely to see more attention on small town voters from the national Dems.

Hopefully.....for the democratic parties sake. Our nation, whether you like it or not, is a populist nation (yes i know you DO like it Al ). If we voted purely on economics the democratic party would win - every time. However people DON'T vote on economics. They vote on social wedge issues such as gay marriage and abortion. Perhaps this is because they are easier to understand for the average american. When the democratic party stopped representing working class americans and started representing elitist new englanders they lost their edge. The party is a mess right now. We are trying to travel in too many directions at once. The republican party is unified and has a message. We need a message, and fast.

[bgwah]

1980 governors race, LOL!!!



The Democrats need to take back Wahkiakum!!! It can't be that hard, there's only like 6 people there.

Asotin and Ferry voted for Dukakis too! They voted for Clinton, but (probably) only because of Perot. They went Republican in the 90s.

Jefferson County gets the award for most Democratic county! They even voted for Mondale! And unlike it's neighbors to the south (Grays Harbor and Pacific), it hasn't been trending Republican. Kerry won it in a landslide. The GOP can't get their greasy hands on Jefferson!

I believe the Skagit will eventually fall the Democrats...In the far away future Clark will probably go Dem.

But in the mean time, the Democrats need to save Pierce from falling to the Satanic grip of the GOP!

With the right candidate, Klickitat could go back to the Democrats. Whitman County is probably the only Eastern county trending Democrat, though, largely due to the university there. How Spokane votes in the future will be interesting too. And as the Tri-Cities grow, it will be fascinating to see how the voting patterns of the ultra-GOP Benton and Franklin counties change...

[Redefeatbush04]

Interesting map. It's a microcosm of what is happening in the nation today- the Democrats are losing their populist base and gaining elitist Republicans.

Vermont & Connecticut are examples of the democrats gaining what you may call "elitist republicans"

[Rob]

Those are great maps. May I ask where you got them? Or did you make them yourself?

[Redefeatbush04]

Those are great maps. May I ask where you got them? Or did you make them yourself?

I made them

[Rob]

Those are great maps. May I ask where you got them? Or did you make them yourself?

I made them

I'm impressed. Great work .

[Redefeatbush04]

Those are great maps. May I ask where you got them? Or did you make them yourself?

I made them

I'm impressed. Great work .

(blushes) thanks bob!!!

[bullmoose88]

Pennsylvania, New Jersey as well.

[Hitchabrut]

S. Jersey is a more populist area and used to be as democratic as the area near NYC but is trending Republican, however, libertarian, upper class areas in northern NJ, like where I live, are trending Democratic.

[Redefeatbush04]

S. Jersey is a more populist area and used to be as democratic as the area near NYC but is trending Republican, however, libertarian, upper class areas in northern NJ, like where I live, are trending Democratic.

That is a pretty good summary of NJ politics. North Jersey outside of the cities is actually pretty heavily republican, however most of the population does live in these cities and therefore north jersey votes democratic. The suburbs are evenly divided with the wealthier suburbs favoring the republicans and the poorer suburbs favoring the democrats. Princeton, due to the university, is an exception: a wealthy suburb which is solidly democratic.  I would make a map for NJ and Pennsylvania but I don't have old enough statistics on those two states.

[Hitchabrut]

Well, that would be like Sussex, Warren, most of Somerset, Hunterdon, and Northern Passaic and Bergen. Monmouth and Ocean are mostly GOP, except for a few exceptions in Monmouth (including my town, Kerry by 0.9%!) I live in an upper middle-class suburb and it has been slowly trending GOP and used to be as solid Dem as many major cities in the country.