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If You Live Near Other People, You're Probably a Democrat.

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Re: If You Live Near Other People, You're Probably a Democrat.

#11

Post by securingsincity »

kcorbitt wrote: post #6
grecy wrote: post #3

Fascinating. I wonder if in the years to come as population density increases, will more and more people vote Democrat, or will the magic number of 800 people per sq. mile. simply increase?

The density number will almost certainly increase. Both of the major US political parties are very pragmatic -- they're willing to shift their platforms as much as necessary to capture a bare majority (if they weren't, they wouldn't remain major parties for long). So while it's possible that ideals currently endorsed by the Democratic platform will become more widespread that only means that the Republicans will shif…

And certainly much higher population density might breed new political leanings and attitudes that another party could capitalize on.

Re: If You Live Near Other People, You're Probably a Democrat.

#12

Post by ctdonath »

thejteam wrote: post #7

I'd like to know if more fine-grained data on population density is available. Congressional districts have a very broad array of population densities within them. I'd love to have access to density information at the voting precinct level and see if that correlation still holds.

Precinct data is available. Depends on your state elections department. Example data: http://results.enr.clarityelections.com/GA/Forsyth/42336/112...

Re: If You Live Near Other People, You're Probably a Democrat.

#13

Post by evacuationdrill »

ck2 wrote: post #5

What I always enjoy reading, from an intellectual sense and not a "ha ha" sense, is "awakening" stories when people are raised super conservative and follow that path - until they have a personal experience that enlightens them that it's not ideal. Watching self-discovery instead of being hit over the head with it is always fascinating.

Do you happen to have an example of one? Where do you find them?

Re: If You Live Near Other People, You're Probably a Democrat.

#14

Post by sgustard »

Except in the military, which is high density but pretty conservative.

Anyway, the usual causation question arises: do people become more liberal as they gain neighbors? Or do they choose to live somewhere with more neighbors because they are already liberal?

Re: If You Live Near Other People, You're Probably a Democrat.

#15

Post by johngalt »

ck2 wrote: post #5

What I always enjoy reading, from an intellectual sense and not a "ha ha" sense, is "awakening" stories when people are raised super conservative and follow that path - until they have a personal experience that enlightens them that it's not ideal. Watching self-discovery instead of being hit over the head with it is always fascinating.

I enjoy reading that every generation thought that in 50 years there will be no more conservatives.

Every 20 something thinks with absolute certainty that their political views wont change with age. And that it's only a matter of time until the rest of the world catches up to their 'correct' views.

Re: If You Live Near Other People, You're Probably a Democrat.

#16

Post by thejteam »

ck2 wrote: post #5

What I always enjoy reading, from an intellectual sense and not a "ha ha" sense, is "awakening" stories when people are raised super conservative and follow that path - until they have a personal experience that enlightens them that it's not ideal. Watching self-discovery instead of being hit over the head with it is always fascinating.

That sounds like the reverse of the saying "A Conservative is a Liberal who's been mugged."

Re: If You Live Near Other People, You're Probably a Democrat.

#17

Post by yummyfajitas »

lukifer wrote: post #2

I've recently become fascinated by the concept that one's political affiliation tends to sync up with one's dominant survival strategy. If you rely most on communities and relationships, you tend to be liberal; if you rely most on authority and hierarchies, you tend to be conservative; if you rely most on your own skills, you tend to be libertarian. http://www.meltingasphalt.com/the-ecology-of-personal-politi...

I think you are flipping conservatives and liberals. Liberals tend to rely on authority and hierarchies (the state, and similar authority figures), whereas conservatives tend to rely on communities and relationships (church, family, secular community orgs). Or am I misinterpreting something here?

Re: If You Live Near Other People, You're Probably a Democrat.

#18

Post by saosebastiao »

As an urban republican, I find this intuitive, although there is significant variation from neighborhood to neighborhood even holding density constant. Even amongst republicans, you still see major policy opinion differences that are divided by urban vs exurban. I'm hoping the urban variant becomes more prominent :)

That aside, please please pretty please do not do statistical analyses with Excel.

Re: If You Live Near Other People, You're Probably a Democrat.

#19

Post by jbooth »

yummyfajitas wrote: post #17
lukifer wrote: post #2

I've recently become fascinated by the concept that one's political affiliation tends to sync up with one's dominant survival strategy. If you rely most on communities and relationships, you tend to be liberal; if you rely most on authority and hierarchies, you tend to be conservative; if you rely most on your own skills, you tend to be libertarian. http://www.meltingasphalt.com/the-ecology-of-personal-politi...

I think you are flipping conservatives and liberals. Liberals tend to rely on authority and hierarchies (the state, and similar authority figures), whereas conservatives tend to rely on communities and relationships (church, family, secular community orgs). Or am I misinterpreting something here?

Subject to debate, and everyone's gonna want to think that their "side" is the most enlightened... (end disclaimer)

I think a lot of liberals see conservatives as authoritarian in that they support the police/military parts of government. Even your tea party libertarians tend to see the police/military as 'our people', culturally speaking and as a necessary part of the state philosophically speaking. Liberals tend to distrust police/military a lot more.

So while your libertarian is a lot less friendly to 'The State' and 'Big G Government', typically they're thinking about zoning boards, the FDA, FCC and welfare when they're against those things -- not particularly hierarchical organizations compared to military/police.

Basically, you're thinking economics, we're thinking marching orders.

(as a liberal, I find it ridiculous when I hear conservatives talk about the tyranny of big govt while pushing for an increase in defense spending and more militarization of police)

Re: If You Live Near Other People, You're Probably a Democrat.

#20

Post by anateus »

yummyfajitas wrote: post #17
lukifer wrote: post #2

I've recently become fascinated by the concept that one's political affiliation tends to sync up with one's dominant survival strategy. If you rely most on communities and relationships, you tend to be liberal; if you rely most on authority and hierarchies, you tend to be conservative; if you rely most on your own skills, you tend to be libertarian. http://www.meltingasphalt.com/the-ecology-of-personal-politi...

I think you are flipping conservatives and liberals. Liberals tend to rely on authority and hierarchies (the state, and similar authority figures), whereas conservatives tend to rely on communities and relationships (church, family, secular community orgs). Or am I misinterpreting something here?

lukifer is expressed a common view. I think "liberal" and "conservative" aren't quite the best terms to use here, with Republican and Democrat being better (party/cultural affiliations vs. more purely political preferences).

Some of this is explored by cognitive scientist/linguist George Lakoff (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_Politics)

I'm not buying the whole thing, but recent studies about one's affiliation correlating with various ways of viewing the world bear out some of Lakoff's thoughts.

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