As an Californian expat now living in the glorious fiefdom of Chicago, I often speak with people from all over the Midwest and South who are absolutely shocked by my insistence that California is far more Evangelical, redneck and conservative than conventional wisdom would suggest. In their mind of my Midwestern and Southern friends, California is the land of latte liberals, of high-priced vegan delis, mini-cars fueled by corn and socialism, and all the other things mocked on Stuff White People Like.
This California of the mind is true–for a shockingly tiny portion of the giant state.
One of the difficult things to appreciate about California is just how vast it is. There are clear geographical barriers between its coastal blue communities and its predominantly red inland regions. Most who live in the coastal communities tend to forget that the rest of the state exists. This phenomenon comes to the fore every election season, when liberals are shocked that the bulk of the state shows up at polling places. This convenient ignorance is puzzling–as the California popular vote map from the 2004 election shows, you could handily fit three or four smaller red states into California’s sea of red.
In 2004,
Paul M Davis
7 Comments
Levi
It’s all about the Urban Archipelago . . .
Washington State is the same way, and much closer to being a swing state than California probably ever will be. People think “Ah, Seattle . . .”, when in reality the vast majority of the geographic area is inhabited by conservative, right-leaning, rural and rural-ish folk. Drive a few minutes in pretty much any direction from here and you start seeing a lot of McCain/Palin signs.
But I don’t think focusing on the landmass inhabited by people of a certain political persuasion is very meaningful, since it’s the number of people involved that really matter. Otherwise, McCain would be way more psyched about being a lock to win Alaska, our “biggest state,” doncha know.
30 Oct 2008 01:10 pm
Levi
Hm. My link didn’t seem to work, even though it said I could “use these tags.”
Here goes: http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=19813)
30 Oct 2008 02:10 pm
Paul M Davis
True, but were it not for the Electoral College, 5.5 million Republican voters would have a huge effect on Presidential elections. It’s not only landmass with California–5.5 million voters from a particular state is a huge number of voters. While this doesn’t play out on the national stage in Presidential elections, it certainly has a major impact on statewide elections, and Congressional/Senate seats–Cali currently 20 Republican congressmen. True, this is 20 out of 53, but still has a major impact on the makeup of the Congress. In comparison, solid red states like Indiana in comparison have 4 Republican congressmen. Staunchly red Texas offers an equal count of 20 Republican reps.
Re: Washington, as we were driving through Spokane, we were blown away by the number of “don’t let Seattle steal this election” billboards.
30 Oct 2008 02:10 pm
Levi
Oh god, those signs drive me flippin’ nuts. It’s that whole “cities aren’t the real America [or Washington, or anywhere]” line of b.s. Screw those people.
30 Oct 2008 04:10 pm
brigidb
I’ve been telling people this for years. 5.5 million red votes would be enough to turn another state’s electoral votes. It’s a whole state’s worth of republicans.
It certainly makes me look at the electoral college in a different way.
05 Nov 2008 05:11 pm
Paul M Davis
Followup: California county results map for Proposition 8 continues to jive with 2004 electoral map: http://vote.sos.ca.gov/Returns/props/map190000000008.htm
07 Nov 2008 03:11 pm
twain
interesting. as a native coastal californian I often catch myself thinking in the box and readily assume that if the bay area is so liberal than the rest of the state must be also. But having reflected on this and comparing it to time spent in places like Truckee, etc I quickly see your point.
As a current resident of Portland, Or I would venture to say that about 80% of the people I meet are from other states- often the midwest. In my experience most of these people have
been a lot more open minded and magnanimous than I would have guessed. I suppose its
a simple lesson in reevaluation.
10 Nov 2008 05:11 pm
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