Daily Archives: 12 Aug 05

Study of Voting Patterns Making a Splash

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Much media buzz (Google News ) about a study by the Bay Area Center for Voting Research ranking the ‘most liberal’ and ‘most conservative’ cities in the US. Detroit and Provo Utah head the respective lists. Most local press coverage of the findings went no further than merely reporting on the ranking their own city received; top-10 or top-25 lists, or any broader perspective, are remarkably lacking, with a few notable exceptions which discuss the overall trends and comment on the methodology:

“The institute’s findings, particularly on the liberal list, challenged the preconceptions of those who expected either small, left-leaning university towns – such as Madison, Wis., Berkeley, Calif., and Ann Arbor, Mich. – or major metropolises, such as New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago, to dominate the rankings. While Berkeley and Cambridge, Mass., came in at nos. 3 and 8 on the most liberal list, Madison and Ann Arbor were notably absent. Also missing from the top 25 list was Los Angeles, and other large cities ranked low, with Chicago coming in at no. 17 and New York appearing at no. 21.” (New York Sun )

It seems clear that ‘liberal’, for the purposes of this study, should not nearly be taken as synonymous with ‘progressive’ or ‘lefty’ and largely reflects the voting pattern of urban minority voting blocs. Here is the BACVR site where you can read more about the study and access overall lists of both ends of the spectrum, as Microsoft Word documents.