Why is California a red state?

[caty]

Whenever I think of California, I think of people who are free thinkers. People who wanted to get away from the ordinary and live unconventional lives. I can't believe that Arnold was voted in as governor again after the sexist and racist remarks he made during his first term. So, for those who live in California: Why is your state red?

[LynneSin]

1. Wow, Barbara Boxer, Dianne Fienstein and the majority of representatives are...

....all republican along with the California State House & Senate?

Who would have thunk it

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

2. Why do they repeatedly elect Repuke governators?

I don't get it, either. Can anyone solve this mystery?

[LaraMN]

3. We did the same thing in Minnesota.

:shrug:

[Left Is Write]

40. The last Democratic governor of Minnesota was Rudy Perpich.

Weird!

[bigwillq]

5. CT does the same thing.

Both US Senators are DEMS, now three and maybe four of the five US House members are DEMS, the State General Assembly is big time DEM but we always elect a REPUKE Gov.

I don't get it either.

:shrug:

[WhollyHeretic]

31. That annoys the crap out of me. At least now we have a veto-proof majority

in the state legislature. To bad we didn't have it when the civil union/gay marriage debate was going on.

[bigwillq]

37. I think we can still push for gay marriage

still even with the civil union law already in place.

And this time, Snow White can't VETO it! I think we will have the votes!

[Bullwinkle925]

32. It's NOT MY FAULT!!

I've been here for over 30 years and have voted Democratic every time. Dammit.

[caty]

4. I have made an error.

California is a blue state.

http://www.electoral-vote.com/

I guess I just jumped to the conclusion that it went red because of A.S getting the governorship again.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/11/09/MNG42M91G71.DTL

But, I still have to wonder why the office of governor didn't go to a Democrat? Was Democrat Phil Angelides that bad of a candidate?

[Zomby Woof]

16. Angelides SUCKED

I voted for him, but I was underwhelmed by him as a candidate. He was the State Treasurer, and had the same campaign skills as a wet rag. He never went for Ahnold's jugular. I am thinking Westly, who ran a bloody and brutal campaign in the primaries, might have been better, because he would have been unafraid of the Gropenator.

We DID have a Democratic governor recently - Gray Davis. He was run out of the state by Enron. Anhold took advantage of this corporate coup.

[Kajsa]

19. Thank you, ZombyWoof! You nailed it.

I voted for Phil, but he never stepped up to the plate with any
substance in his campaign until the last second. It was too late.

Westly was my first choice, and those of us who did support him took lots
of crap from the Philities who called us all kinds of unsavory names.

BS!- Westly was a great candidate and I believe he could have given Ahnuld
a run for his money. Remember, Steve wanted Phil to sign an agreement
that they would run a clean campaign, sticking to their goals for CA and
how they would implement them? Phil wouldn't sign it, he was lost without
his mudslinging. Dear God, discuss my goals- are you nuts?

A lot of Dems. didn't like Phil and they didn't vote for him
Tuesday.

We picked the wrong candidate in the primaries.

End of story.

[Control-Z]

26. ZombyWoof and Kajsa, you are both absolutely right.

Add to it (and I really hate to say this) Westly was pretty enough and had the money to take Ahnuld on. I know it's shallow but it's the truth.

[Kajsa]

39. Hi Dancingalone.

Thanks.
It's good to see you back here.

:hi:

[Oeditpus Rex]

29. We don't know about Angelides

He hardly campaigned at all until a couple of weeks before the election — at least not in northern/central Kollyforniya. Ah-nold had many times his war chest, and Angelides apparently shot most of his in the primary against Westley — who probably would've been the better candidate.

Eastereners (that is, everyone east of Nevada) have to understand, too — Kollyforniya is only "blue" along the coast, and not even all of that; once you get south of Ellay, it gets pretty pink, and the Central Valley is red, red, red. Heebus, a chunk of it had Richard "I Never Met a Right-Wing Lobbyist I Didn't Blow" Pombo as its Congresscritter for 14 years until Tuesday.

Also, Ah-nold is pretty moderate as Republics go. Plus, he didn't royally screw up anything during his first term. Put those factors together and you've got an incumbent who's hard to beat.

[XemaSab]

6. Don't be fooled

Here's the county-by-county map of the 2000 vote:



Note well that it's really only the coastal areas of California that are blue, and it's not even all of those. Del Norte (prison guards), San Luis Obispo (no large cities, many ranchers and farmers), Orange, and San Diego are all red. Imperial, which is the blue inland county on the map, is predominately Hispanic.

It's basically the North Coast, Bay Area, Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara, and metro LA that are blue and liberal. Areas like Fresno, Redding, and Bakersfield are full of cave-dwelling republicans and fundies.

Assuming the state is full of people who moved here because they were free thinkers isn't accurate at all. Many people moved here to escape the Dust Bowl or for other work-related reasons, and brought conservative values with them.

I deeply suspect that people in inland areas of California are totally horrified by "San Francisco" values, and part of the conservative ethos of those areas is a rejection of Bay Area liberalism. There's a lot of farming, ranching, and logging in inland areas, and there's also a lot of deep-seated anti-Mexican xenophobia. People in these areas also are less likely to have degrees, and to be stuck in dead-end jobs moreso than people in more urban areas.

So in elections, it comes down to coastal vs. inland, and moderates in both places will push the vote back and forth between liberal and conservative. But I would guess that you'll always get about 30% of the population who would never vote for a democrat, and 40% or so who would never vote for a republican. Voter turnout is critical, of course, especially among demoralized inland voters, particularly Hispanics, and apathetic coastal voters.

It's a complicated picture. :shrug:

[billyskank]

7. Okay, looking at your picture, I have a question

Why do Democrats like edges? :shrug:














I'm serious. The blue areas mostly seem to all be either on the coast or on the borders between states.

[XemaSab]

12. Big Cities

Big cities along rivers or on the coast would be my best guess. That big swath of blue down the middle of the country is the Mississippi River, which has its own political ethos in many ways.

[billyskank]

15. So it boils down to an urban/rural split?

People in cities vote Democratic; people out in the sticks vote Repub. Is that pretty much it?

[Zomby Woof]

18. Been that way since the founding of the country

There has always been a rural vs. urban divide in America. The rural Americans vastly outnumbered the urban populace until well into the 20th century. But there has always been a split along values lines. Rural America is into "tradition", fundamentalist religion, and fancy themselves as a 'self-reliant' sort. They are suspicious of formal educational institutions, unless they produce a football team. They consider themselves 'authentic'. They see urban people as plastic or 'fake'. Xenophobia and superstition are prevalent. Urban Americans are more educated, worldly, sophisticated, and ethnically diverse (and therefore, bring many cultural practices alien to middle white America with them), with great exceptions. There are wealthy and educated rural dwellers, and poor, uneducated urban citizens. But the generalities hold up, influence voting patterns, values judgments, and have done so since the Federalists and Anti-Federalists went after each other in George Washington's time.

[XemaSab]

22. Pretty much, yeah

There are some big cities that are more conservative, such as San Diego, Miami, Salt Lake City, and a few other big cities, and some rural areas are fairly liberal, such as the aforementioned North Coast of California, Vermont, and parts of the rural South with many blacks.

[Quantess]

24. Yes, and people who live out in the boonies are most afraid of terrorists.

People who live 10 miles from the nearest town are more worried about terror than people who live in big cities. Go figure.

[Hugin]

8. Dang, XemaSab...

Take it to The GENERAL DISCUSSION!!!11!!1

(just kidding... :) )

Very nice write up. Hmm... Better than I've seen anywhere.

[caty]

21. One of the reasons I

was confused about California being red or blue is because at one point on election night they showed the map with California being red (a prediction perhaps). Now, after the election, it is blue. I understand about the Dem candidate not putting up a good campaign. And, if A.S. is a moderate repub, I can understand if some Dems voted for him. Over the years, I have realized that someone can be a good governor or president, but not necessarily a good person.

[Spider Jerusalem]

25. Actually, it doesn't come down to coastal vs inland...

it comes down to more vs less populated, more vs less educated, and ethnically diverse vs rednecks two generations out of Oklahoma. More people live in the LA and SF metro areas than in the rest of the state put together. San Diego skews Republican, but that's not surprising for someplace with such a high military population.

[hfojvt]

38. nice of that map to include the square miles and county population BS

see? - Bush won 2,432,456 to 575,184.

Thanks alot USA Today. Did they also have a chart that shows how "by far the vast majority of Bush tax cuts goto those at the bottom"?

Also, Arnold ran left with his stem cell and global warming initiatives.

[Mutley]

9. Ah-nold is actually quite moderate

especially compared to other Republicans. He's pro-choice, pro-stem cell research (I believe), among several other things. I've been told by Californians that he's done a better job than some other recent governors.

But, I would hardly call California a red state because they have a Republican governor. They go blue in the presidential elections, and some of our best Dems are in California.

[Zomby Woof]

20. Maria holds back her favors

If he doesn't moderate some of his views. She has enough Kennedy in her to be an influence.

He was too conservative when he tried railroading his initiatives a year ago. He was soundly defeated on these issues, and that is when his 'humble' act began. If he had run a year ago, he would have been trounced.

Gray Davis was a better governor, but Enron and the business creeps from Orange County and other highly red areas ran him out on a rail. The recall proved just how dismal the schools are, to produce such a non-critically thinking populace.

[LeftyMom]

10. It's not.

AS won because he ran unopposed. Phil Angelides never got his campaign going, so it's kinda telling about California that it wasn't a landslide even under those circumstances.

[begin_within]

11. The blue areas are the San Francisco Bay area, the northern coast, the

Los Angeles metropolitan area, and the Imperial valley. Most of the rest of the state is red, including all the inland areas except the Imperial valley. The huge agricultural Central valley is deep red, almost like a part of the Midwestern U.S. transplanted in one piece to California. Most of the coastal areas are blue except the central coast and Orange County, which is deep, deep red. San Diego is kind of weird - the city core is blue, but the surrounding county is so deeply red that overall the entire county leans red. Gore took California in 2000 and Kerry took California in 2004. I don't know how to explain the Arnold thing, except that image trumps reality.

[Zomby Woof]

13. Um, wtf?

It's true that too many voters for Ahnold are starstruck independents, and that Angelides ran a shit campaign. But we have TWO DEMOCRATIC U.S. SENATORS, and a LARGE Democratic congressional delegation including the NEXT SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE.

Our state government, including the Assembly and the Senate, is PREDOMINANTLY DEMOCRATIC. Our Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, and Attorney General, are all Democrats. In fact, Jerry Brown is the new AG.

California is VERY diverse, and cannot be stereotyped so easily. We have our rural freepers, and our urban elitists. We have our suburban soccer moms, and massive ethnic diversity which crosses all party lines. We're the largest agricultural state, and we still have an enormous manufacturing economy. If we were a country, we would be the 8th most powerful in the world.

We're not "red". We voted for EVERY Democratic presidential candidate since Dukakis in 1988. That's 5 in a row. Bush was overwhelmingly defeated here BOTH times.

And as much as I despise Ahnold, he isn't a Religious Right Republican. Many Republicans do not like him for being too "liberal" and they claimed they held their nose voting for him. It's the pliable middle, the starstruck TV-numbed masses, who voted for him mostly. They call themselves "independents", but that's because they are too ignorant to know better. They could have voted for Warren Beatty or Rob Reiner if they had run, because of the starstruck factor.

[nini]

14. Barbara Boxer, Henry Waxman, etc

The presidential elections go blue. Most of it goes blue.


yep. we're red. :eyes:

[bertha katzenengel]

17. CA is a BLUE state, but the voters seem to prefer Republican governors.

Who knows why? I never voted for a GOP governor. :shrug:

[Initech]

23. Outside of Orange County and San Diego, California is a BLUE state

Republicans are the majority in those two counties, but after that, it's pretty blue.

Eh you could maybe throw San Jose in there too.

[petronius]

27. Actually, I'd say that outside of LA and the Bay Area counties (including Humboldt)

we are more of a Red State. Just not as red as a Wyoming or a Texas...

[cobalt1999]

28. I love California reds

[caty]

30. Blue is my favorite color.

[MsKandice01]

33. OMG that's beautiful!

Where was that taken?

[caty]

35. I got it off the internet.

It was taken somewhere in Germany. It is beautiful!

[MsKandice01]

34. Outside of the major metropolitan areas..

The majority of California, geographically-wise, is red. Between the SF bay area and LA (about a 325 mile difference), there's a vast area of nothingness that is the equivalent of driving through Rural USA. The major metropolitan areas tend to be blue though.

The reason why Schwarzenegger won is because 1) he pretended to a Democrat towards the end and 2) Angelides was damn near invisible until the very end.

[mike_c]

36. take a look at a county map of CA coded red/blue....

The coastal counties are mostly blue. The majority of the state is solidly red. What saves us is that the relatively few blue counties on the coast are the ones with the greatest population density.

[bertha katzenengel]

41. Poor Caty. She's admitted that she's been misled. She understands now.

Poor Caty.

This is for you, Caty. :hug:

I'm a native Californian, and I have always been befuddled at my fellow Californians' desire to elect Republicans. In my lifetime: Reagan, Deukmejian, Wilson, Schwarzenegger . . . :banghead: