People have known for a while that more densely populated areas, like cities and towns, tend to have a larger proportion of the population as democrats than republicans. People have also known for a while that more rural areas tend to have a larger percentage of republicans than democrats.
Previous examinations and now more current studies have gone into great detail examining to partisanship plays such a role in migration patterns from city to rural or rural to city. Republicans tend to be moving out of cities to the countryside and democrats tend to be moving from rural areas to the urban areas. Many of the republican voters moving from city to the countryside are elderly. One reason for elderly to make this move is people who are retiring tend to elderly want live in the quite countryside. The elderly also tend to have more money than younger Democrats so they can afford to move farther away than some young democrat just staring out in his career. Some of the younger republicans also want to be with people who share some of their values and or identify as the same race. There tend to be more whites in the country side than any other race in many parts of the United States. One of the values Republicans have that cannot be fully enjoyed in the cities is the use of fire arms. Cities tend to have stronger anti-gun laws than in the country side. This is one reason Republicans are moving out of the city and moving farther than democrats in the process.
Previous examinations and now more current studies have gone into great detail examining to partisanship plays such a role in migration patterns from city to rural or rural to city. Republicans tend to be moving out of cities to the countryside and democrats tend to be moving from rural areas to the urban areas. Many of the republican voters moving from city to the countryside are elderly. One reason for elderly to make this move is people who are retiring tend to elderly want live in the quite countryside. The elderly also tend to have more money than younger Democrats so they can afford to move farther away than some young democrat just staring out in his career. Some of the younger republicans also want to be with people who share some of their values and or identify as the same race. There tend to be more whites in the country side than any other race in many parts of the United States. One of the values Republicans have that cannot be fully enjoyed in the cities is the use of fire arms. Cities tend to have stronger anti-gun laws than in the country side. This is one reason Republicans are moving out of the city and moving farther than democrats in the process.
Democrats tend to not move as far as Republicans, when they do move, but there is still a preference for Democrats to be with people who share similar values.
These younger crowds of Democrats are likely to be students and want to move to a college close to home for a quality education. Many top schools are close to, if not in, city limits. Young Democrats also tend to like the atmosphere in cities in some ways better than in the country side. There are more advanced technologies and more available gadgets in the cities as well as more food and drink choices that appeal to young democrats that they cant get as often in the country side, like Star Bucks
References
Tam Cho, W. K., Gimpel, J. G., & Hui, I. S. (2013). Voter Migration and the Geographic Sorting of the American Electorate. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 103(4), 856-870.
I'm from one of the most conservative counties in South Carolina which is one of the most conservative states in the country. That being said, Columbia (the capital) is incredibly liberal for state standards. I think having a university helps, but what is it about cities that attracts liberal minds? Rural spaces mean less government involvement and more likelihood of cult-like activity. That's obviously not it, but it's interesting to think about the mechanics at play.
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DeleteMaybe they're just more "cult-ured", those republican country dwellers. I would point out, too, that those who live in the country are often of a higher socioeconomic class by virtue of being able to afford land outside of the city; not to mention all of the costs that accompany residing on it, (i.e. building a house, self-contained water and sewage systems, annual property taxes, etc...). Thus, that would be a unifying demographic for white older citizens living outside of urbanized cities. Being able to shoot during any old time of the day isn't a bad bonus either, granted you are an informed and responsible gun owner, which, in my limited experience, most republicans tend to be.
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