Hello and welcome to Conservative-Truths.com
Every week, from January 2, 2012 through November 5, 2012, a single entry will be posted with a little known truth about Conservatives and comparing it against that same truth about Liberals. These postings will reference published statistics from the latest Census Bureau Statistical Report.
When there is a post saying something like “There Is A Higher Rate Of “X” In Conservative States Than In Liberal States” there will be a list of which states, Conservative and Liberal, are higher than the National Average. Any states not listed are therefore lower than the National Average.
One thing that is important to understand is that the postings on Conservative-Truths are just correlations and correlation does not mean causation. I am simply posting correlations that I find to be interesting. Why conservative states have these higher rates is not addressed on the website. Answering the question of “why” is for someone else to do. I am just posting the data exactly as published by the Census Bureau Statistical Report.
Q: Why is “X” listed as a conservative? Why is “Y” listed as a liberal?
A: If it is a President being discussed then the Republican President will be listed as Conservative and the Democratic President will be listed as Liberal.
Q: Why is “X” listed as a conservative state? Why is “Y” listed as a liberal state?
A: The label is chosen by the way that State voted in the 2008 Presidential Election, with the Conservative States being those that voted Republican and the Liberal States being those that voted Democratic. I know that this is an over-simplification and that there are many Liberals in Conservative States and many Conservatives in Liberal States, but this is the simplest and most common way to determine a State’s overall political leaning.
Q: Why don’t you use the state’s county election results to determine which states are conservative or liberal?
A: The Census Bureau Statistical Report only provides data on a state level. There is no county data provided, so it is impossible to use county level data.
For the purposes of this site, here is a breakdown of the Conservative States and the Liberal States:
Conservative States:
Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
Georgia
Idaho
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
North Dakota
Oklahoma
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
West Virginia
Wyoming
Liberal States:
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
District of Columbia
Florida
Hawaii
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
Ohio
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
Wisconsin
Note: The Census Bureau Statistical Report includes the District of Columbia in its list of states. That is why it is included in my list.
Feel free to comment about the postings and please email any published reports that help describe the differences between Liberals and Conservatives.
Thank you.
Conservative-Truths.com
(Page revised on April 10, 2012)
Did you do all of the work digging up these statistics without breaking them down by county? Because you should have realized that “conservative states” tend to have enclaves of massively liberal populations, usually in cities. They are only “conservative” in that the rural population outnumbers the urban. But most of the crime/divorce/abuse is concentrated in the liberal centers.
For example, most of the crime and poverty in Alabama is concentrated in Montgomery, Birmingham, and Mobile. These municipalities show up as blue spots in an otherwise red state. If you discount them, the conservative states outshine the “blue states” in nearly every category you used.
Using a broader category (states instead of counties, in this case) is a classic abuse of statistics. I can’t really comment on the presidential administration statistics because they are so silly as a concept. You know that presidents don’t handle America’s budget, right? Congress does.
The Census Bureau does not provide county-based information on these statistics. They only provide state-based information in their annual Statistical Abstracts.
Great site. Fascinating.
Now, as to what Isaac said, perhaps in conservative or Republican states, the exurbanites and rural people do outnumber the city dwellers. Perhaps the tight-fisted voters prevent adequate funding of social services. And that may be why the outcomes are worse.
In liberal states, the cities are also the hubs of crime and problems, but they also have the voters. Consequently, money is spent in the cities to mitigate problems.
This is just a wild hypothesis folks.
Issac, the bias you state would only work if there was a differential between the two groups. As jk pointed out (in a sarcastic manner so you may not have detected the point) was that there is no reason to suspect liberal states have different cities than urban states so your point is invalid.
I am wondering if there is any selection of what is presented. Are there stats you calculate where the liberal states do worse? Anything you calculate where there is no difference? Those datum would be interesting too.
And thanks for doing this.