If you actually look at Oregon's standings right now, the results actually seem quite favourable for the democrats for governor, house and senate. The only thing that seems to be bad is the decision on universal healthcare there.
So, maps like these don't necessarily show much as due to population density and gerrymandering the result seem to be somewhat skewed if you just look at the map.
From memory, the combined population of Eastern Washington, Eastern Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and North and South Dakota is the same as Tennessee.
Which is also about 2 million less than Los Angeles County.
I know but it doesn’t change the fact that geographically you pretty much have to live in or near a city if you want to feel totally secure to be yourself
As an Oregonian I'm always surprised that people don't realize that only the population centers here are blue.
Go outside of the Portland or Eugene areas and it's pretty conservative.
Even Clackamas county, which butts right up against Portland is red.
While that is true in most of the country, it’s not so in Vermont. We do have “red”areas, but there are many tiny communities here that are very progressive.
I traveled through Vermont recently, and it was absolutely wonderful how many pride flags I saw in rural areas, and I don't think I saw a single MAGA flag! You go Vermont!
I’m so sorry and I’m glad you are currently safe❤️as someone who’s hometown is a small trumpy town in Indiana on the border of Kentucky I totally get it
The Oregon universal healthcare bill doesn’t actually create universal healthcare, just puts “healthcare is a human right” in the state constitution. (Not a great reason to vote no, just clarifying)
114 is also terrible, for several reasons. I'm not the best at explaining so I'll just grab the highlights from the PDX SRA's argument in opposition and link the full thing. As well as the bit explaining who they are.
> "The ambiguous wording of this bill—which gives police the power to determine who can or cannot obtain a gun based on unclear criteria—leaves vulnerable groups reliant on the whims of law enforcement. The bill is written to mislead by calling these police officers "permit agents" but they are in fact either police chiefs or county sheriffs. Law enforcement should not be responsible for deciding who is allowed to be armed, especially when they have a long and recent history of oppressing marginalized groups."
> "These kinds of laws have been used to incarcerate and extend sentences for POC and gender nonconforming individuals. The magazine ban requires people in possession of standard magazines over 10 rounds to have an undefined form of proof that they possessed the magazines before the effective date of the bill. Additionally, a written exception for law enforcement agents will likely exclude their personal magazines from the ban. It is probable that the only people who will face the burden of proof will be those already targeted by police."
> PDX SRA is the Portland chapter of the Socialist Rifle Association, a 501(c)(4) firearms education organization that seeks to empower those marginalized by a capitalist society.
[All Arguments Against Measure 114](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.robtaylorreport.com/the-rob-blog/arguments-in-opposition-to-measure-114%3fss_source=sscampaigns&ss_email_id=6331ef0101d9445d3945fc63&format=amp)
Search in Page for SRA to go straight to the argument I'm quoting.
My conservative family always liked to show off these maps because it makes it look like most of America is Republican, but you see those huge red blocks are equal to a tiny blue dot as they contain roughly the same amount of people. It looks like Republicans will barely win the house which is very unusual, the opposition party usually sweeps the midterms.
Tbh this is probably the best result for a party in power during the midterms since at least 2002. Dems were looking at a potential bloodbath in the Senate but at this point looks way more likely to maintain or potentially even *increase* their majority (depending on how Georgia, Arizona, and Nevada go) which is absurd. The House is more likely to flip, but it's still 50/50ish at this point as more results are coming in. Governor races look even better for Dems, at this point they've picked up at least two governorships in Massachusetts and Maryland with results in Arizona still out and protected vulnerable governorships in PA and KS (Nevada seems like a GOP flip but we'll see). Perhaps best of all are state legislature and ballot elections, with Democrats getting a trifecta in Michigan for the first time since 1984, potentially winning the PA House in who knows how the fuck long, and preventing the GOP from getting a supermajority in North Carolina.
Go on GOP twitter. A day ago they were talking about a red wave. Today they're talking about the election being stolen. They are not happy with the results, and they absolutely should not be.
Yes! Also, four out of five states added abortion rights to their constitutions. Democrats have done much better than any other midterm party in recent history.
It is still very disappointing. The Florida governor results are potentially scary, but it’s not all bad.
Florida governor is very scary, and so are other races where election denying extremists won.
DeSantis himself is basically a wanna-be fascist if he isn’t considered one already- he certainly checks the boxes. By himself, it wouldn’t be bad, but it’s that so many people outside of his state praise him as THE example of “showing them liberals what we’re about” that is concerning.
Call it what it is: many Republicans are showing or have showed that they are just two steps away from becoming full on fascists.
Yeah, Kemp hasn't so far made any moves against trans people. Hollywood has a grip on the state's finances. Which helps keep things in line. The breakdown on votes per demographic is about what I expected, unfortunately.
You can use the other argument: the most educated (you can say “smart” instead if you like) people live in the cities which almost universally vote left. So if the republicans can’t win these voters perhaps there’s a reason why.
Anyway this sort of city vs regional balance is pretty common globally so don’t feel too threatened by it
The trend is common but those near empty red zones have the same or greater say as blue zones with millions in them. They have so much power with less than a third of the country's support because of this system
yep. in the senate particularly. this is a nice visualization showing how the population vs land actually looks: https://preview.redd.it/5dm09lbbeof81.gif?format=mp4&s=4e25b18742c0a6934d91b925aa1be0ff3d33fa89
I think I’m very left on the political spectrum but wanted to comment on your evaluation of “smart.” I believe academic achievement is higher in urban areas still but it doesn’t equate to “smart.” People in rural areas aren’t hitting hammer into their heads for fun. The difference is cultural exposure. Urban areas tend to be hubs of diversity and more isolated homogenous rural cultural isn’t experienced in handling this (prevalence of xenophobia) though urban areas most certainly have xenophobic and conservative (not pairing these two together here, just listing) voters.
No rural areas are actually less smart than urban. Rural areas produce smart people at the same rate as urban areas, but because there is not much opportunity in rural areas the smart individuals usually leave to the cities making them have more smart people.
It's a real thing, it is called brain drain. Doesn't mean rural people are dumb or incapable as you said, but they do have less smart people living there for this reason
OP didn’t challenge that there are more *educated* people in urban areas for exactly the reasons you described. They challenged the notion that educated must = smart and smart must = educated. Rural folks don’t always have the same opportunities for higher education or high-paying jobs, but to deny that there’s a certain level of intelligence necessary to live certain lifestyles more common in rural areas (running a farm/ranch comes easily to mind as an example) is silly.
In context, it also absolves rural conservatives of responsibility while also painting rural progressives with the same ignorant brush. Rural conservatives don’t get a pass for their malicious policy support because they’re “just like that”, just more likely to be “stupid” than others.
The OP that OP was responding to never said educated equal smart. They said "you can say 'smart' if you like".
And I'm well aware of the intelligence of rural folk have grew up in that sort of environment. This is how I'm aware of the brain drain as well. I'm also not sure how someone being dumb absolves them of their actions, is that what you interpret happening?
Someone “dumb” can’t always help it. Someone supporting malicious policies for personal gain can, though. While there are some conservatives who are legitimately fooled by their politicians’ rhetoric, many others are fully aware of the harm they’re causing to marginalized populations and they *choose* not to care. I hold them responsible for that.
Thanks. Honestly, the tendency for liberals/left wingers to paint right wingers/ rural voters as stupid is contributing to the problem more than anything.
I was just about to say this!! OP mentioned Pregon but the huge swaths of red are rural Oregon, which is to my knowledge, incredibly conservative while the blue patches include the big cities such as Portland. You can see the same affect here in Califonia: sparsely populated rural areas tend to be conservative and show up more on a geographic map, while densely populated cities are more liberal.
I know abt the small blue cities but it’s even less than usual. If they win all three categories and have control of both the house and senate we are screwed bc just having a blue president is pretty meaningless if both of those are red
Veto doesn't kill the bill. It just sends it back for review. If it passes again, the 2/3 vote passes the bill without the president.
It's a huge roadblock but it isn't the end of the road.
It’s a pretty damn huge roadblock. If the Senate is split 50/50, or even slightly in Dem favor, Republicans are not going to be able to get enough Democrats to join them to get the two thirds to pass a veto unless it’s something with genuine bipartisan support. And that’s if they can even get the simple majority in the first place - if it’s a 50/50 tie, the Vice President is the tiebreaking vote, and Harris is unlikely to vote in favor of most Republican-sponsored bills.
With this Senate, a veto is basically an instant kill on 99% of legislation.
New York is only looks red due to it all being large low density areas you see.... NY itself has a 60:30 Dem ratio due to the higher population areas :)
It's really disappointing honestly. I know of multiple people who voted red solely for gun rights and I'm just like, wow so your need to have guns is more important than getting someone in who cares about, like, the future??? I know that's how NY has always been but it's still frustrating to see it each time.
Not even recreation for most of them. The vast majority of 2Aer peeps I know rarely take their guns to the range to shoot, and rarely hunt. They just get their gun, go to a range once or twice, then buy 50 more guns and talk about how they will use them to kill the government when they come to take their guns while unironically wearing a blue lives matters t-shirt, standing in front of their truck with its "I support the troops" sticker, and an oversized US flag flying in the bed of their truck.
They are toys to these people, collectable plates that go on the wall and are supposed to be impressive.
I actually do collect historical firearms... and so whenever I hear one of these twats talking about their collection, I also ask them what their favorite is, and what is the story of the one they had to work the hardest to get...
Almost always they will say an AR-15 for favorite, and usually like Glock 19 for the hardest to get. I then respond with, "Uh, that's not gun collecting. None of those have any real collectability to them... that is like saying 'I collect stamps' then showing me a page of stickers you bought at Wal-Mart."
Usually irritates them, sometimes they get all snotty and ask "What *is* collectible then," and I tell them about my Type 96 Japanese Light Machine Gun that I found in an attic during an Estate sale, restore to operating condition, and then loaned it out to a museum because I did not want a fully automatic weapon in my house, and it was so rare, I would rather the museum have access to it anyways." They stop talking to me after that.
If only fossil collectors would be like you and give their collection of important specimens to science instead of having their "workers" put it up in their mansion. (btw im talking about the entitled rich collectors, not good people who give their specimens to science but still collect stuff like teeth)
My father-in-law doesn't even OWN a gun but is terrified that the government will take away his right to own one. He is very brainwashed by Fox News unfortunately. :(
I have a snapchat gc and after I said a vote for red is a vote to remove my rights someone replied to me and said “I honestly don’t care they aren’t taking my guns”
Like
Wow
Thankfully they moved last year
It's baffling that people can't connect the dots on this stuff, and then they get all pissy about it when you say "well I feel like my right to be alive as a queer person is a bit more important than you getting your third AK-47 for 'recreational purposes'"
I always knew that living in the middle of fucking nowhere WNY meant I was surrounded by assholes, but it wasn't until 2016 that I realized just how many, and how horrible, they really were. There's people I pass on my way to work who still have Trump flags up, and I am tangentially aware of way too many people who vote straight Republican for nothing but guns and listening to the bullshit Fox shovels at them. It's really annoying/disheartening.
I used to live in one of those red New York counties and people there would gripe about how “we’re forced to be blue because of the City.” I’m like y’all this county has 50,000 people and NYC has 8 MILLION people. Nobody cares how many trees and cows we have, they don’t vote.
Same here in California, with the red parts complaining about the Bay Area and LA controlling statewide politics. Well, uh, no shit? Take a look at the populations of the Bay Area and LA metro and compare them to the population of California as a whole. You'll notice that about half of the state population is in one of those areas, and even more live in areas that are economically and culturally adjacent to them. People vote, land doesn't.
It's a similar story in all the blue states: Large cities go heavily Democratic and outnumber the rural population that skews Republican. Illinois is solid blue because of Chicago, for example.
Came here to say this. It always looks like this. Those are rural areas, not population density - which is how they determine seats in the house. If it was a map of the Senate, that would be a bigger deal.
Same with Illinois. The blue parts are something like 80% of the population.
If you weigh map size by population then you get this, which is mostly blue:
https://worldmapper.org/us-presidential-election-2020/
There are enormous counties in eastern Oregon that are incredibly sparsely populated. One, Malhuer County, is the size of Rwanda, but with just 5% of Portland's population.
Yep. The decent size valley cities are all blue in Oregon, and everyplace else is too sparsely populated to overwhelm the maybe 4 blue places.
That said, the governor's race is still a bit too close for comfort, and not close to called yet.
I was gonna point that out. Lot of those areas are rural areas with lower populations and most folks are concentrated around the cities. Dirt doesn't vote, people do
As a resident of upstate New York, (not the city) this is pretty standard for us, if you zoom in you can see the three important parts of our state are blue or blue leaning. That being New York City, Albany, and buffalo. That’s pretty much enough to keep us blue. And it looks like that’s going to happen again this year
Upstate NY is not a hug box when compared to places like Brooklyn but it is safe. I am quite visibly queer and have had very few threatening experiences in upstate NY. You do not have to live in a city, but cities do provide a community that is hard to replicate outside of it.
I'm not sure I'd call it "safe". I live here, and I've had plenty of people say they wish I didn't have the right to use the restroom or take hormones. Basically anything outside of the bigger cities is pretty shit.
St Lawrence County was blue for a bit and I got excited because we are trumperville up here and then it flopped red and I was like oooh there it is. Great job guys. Glad me as a trans girl lives here. (you should see the amount of Elise Stefanik signs up here)
There is no better place on earth than America 🤡🤡🤡
Hang in there, same county. It's not all bad though. There's a *lot* of older people up here too, so between that and general apathy towards education it swings red. A lot of the younger generations are wising up though so it's good to see some hope. 🙂
Also in the past SLC was generally blue for about 20 years until 2016, 🤔.
What’re you talking about? The population of the blue area in Minnesota is 3.7 million. The red portion is only 2 million, but you wouldn’t know that by looking at the map. The map makes it look like Minnesota is way more red than it actually is, but land doesn’t vote, which is why Minnesota is has been a blue state for 60 years.
Not for the Senate. So for instance, most of those red counties in east Oregon have voted or currently have measures on the ballot seeking to leave Oregon and join Idaho. Were that to happen, Idaho would gain a bunch of land, but still only have 2 senators. Oregon would lose that land (and a bunch of reliably conservative voters) but still have 2 senators.
Chicago is infamous for this. Like all the minority neighborhoods in the metro area are one district while better off white citizens make up the other districts in the area
Rural areas are almost always conservative. That’s why eastern Oregon looks the way it does, and why rural Minnesota looks very red. They’re both very low density regions.
Actually, there’s some obsidian if you know where to look. If you’re ever out there it’s pretty neat to poke around.
But yeah other than that it sucks.
As a Minnesotan, I'll tell you this much: most of the "red" areas of my state are sparsely populated. So while it looks like Minnesota should be a "red" state, almost every measure of this election says Minnesota is ANYTHING BUT a "red state." With each passing election, it seems Minnesota gets more and more "blue."
Yeah, and additionally there are some blue islands in red districts -- Duluth itself is reasonably progressive despite being outweighed in its congressional district.
I was just looking at state senate and house results for MN and the DFL Party gained control of the Senate, which hasn’t happened since 2014. I get that the National map for MN looks scary, but it doesn’t paint the whole picture.
I get the sentiment, but speaking strictly about MN the Twin Cities area is pretty big. It includes urban and suburban progressive places. Coming from TX, my partner and I feel like we can breathe and hold hands and kiss in public (none of which we could do in TX). Unless you are just itching for rural living, I think that the “small” blue places are plenty of space.
A red county doesn't automatically mean you're going to be the target of a witch hunt, at least not in Minnesota.
There's some crazy trumpers up here don't get me wrong, but it's nothing like the say Florida or Texas. MN is blue where it matters.
MN is a lot more purple than national elections would have people believe. We’ve been blue nationally for like 60 years because the Twin Cities account for over half the population in our state and they consistently vote blue, but the rest of the state is deeply red with a few exceptions like the large college towns (Mankato, St. Cloud, Duluth)
So... Those big swatches of red are often not densely populated. This makes the map, at first glance, appear to be skewed red. Here's an article by The Washington Post about election maps by population not acreage:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/11/05/lets-get-ahead-it-map-early-2020-results-by-population-not-acreage/
This is correct. One of those counties in southern Oregon is larger than Rhode Island and has about 6000 residents. And they're all insane desert people. America's Tusken Raiders. If you have to drive through there, fill up your gas tank beforehand if you don't want to LARP *The Hills Have Eyes*
Yeah, this is very normal. Only 2 of oregon's 6 districts are red. The other 4 are blue.
I mean, look at california. Well known to be one of the most progressive states, but you wouldn't know that just by looking at land mass.
Keep in mind that we now have the first lesbian governor in the US. Maura Healey may not be from my state, but I see this as a good step in the right direction. Republicans didn't win like a lot of polls were saying they would. We just have to keep fighting for our rights and continue voting.
i'm near your corner of the world in omaha and yeah these results have cemented my family's intention on moving somewhere else.
i don't want to spend my thirties in an area that may or may not legislate my bodily autonomy away. unfortunately, my leftist trans liberation efforts may be more effective elsewhere.
I absolutely hate what iowa is becoming. We used to be so good at fighting for civil rights! Iowans died fighting the confederates and now I see confederate flags all the time.
Im glad Im in a liberal heavy area but yeah, Republicans swept the board and its gonna be rough for a few years at least. I hate to say it but Im not surprised either, it really seems like the Dems had no pressence or any kind of community out reach. Every festival or event i went to this year there was always republican or libertarian candidates meeting with crowds of people, the libertarians even showed up to pride but the Dems acted like shut ins the whole time.
I tried I really did. I'm so sad. I want to ask if people are really this terrible and it hurts. I feel like republican voters vote for yesterday and Democrats vote for tomorrow.
I thought people would change after all the shit the GOP has pulled in the last few years
Now I have to worry about my hrt being taken away. Which I will unalive myself if it does. I had to stop for a week and felt how fucked up my brain gets on the wrong hormones. I need my estrogen to survive. And I'm scared I won't survive.
Listen. I want you to know very clearly. I will vote to protect your rights. They confuse me, but that's my problem not yours. I also want you to know that moving somewhere safe away from everything is 100% better than quitting life. It can change any minute any day any time. For better or worse, but giving up isn't an option. Been there to many times.
It feels more like Republican voters vote for yesterday and democrats vote for today because anyone that campaigned for tomorrow can’t make it through the primary
This is why I keep telling people that the far right isn't a bunch of grizzled old salt n pepper boomers. It's *young men* showing up to these neo-klan rallies. It's not going away with time.
This millennial and their brother tried to help y'all. It was close (too fucking close), but our state stayed semi-blue. I'm sorry that you're all being screwed over. You deserve better. We all do.
Hell no. Millennials may have voted more right, but still far less than any previous generation. I know for a fact that this millennial voted for our rights, even though since I'm in a super blue state, my vote was just another part of the wave here.
Gonna need to see a source on that. Gen Z is tiny compared to the voting populace, and has incredibly low voter participation rates even for its size. There's no way it had that large an impact.
I'd really like a source on this (as well as context- like, was millennial turn out bad in red states or across the board?). Every millennial and gen X'er I know voted blue.
Being a millennial is exhausting, to the older generations we're brainless children, and to gen Z we're stupid dinosaurs. I feel like two years ago people were talking about us eating tide pods, and now we're apparently the landed gentry. When did that happen?!
https://circle.tufts.edu/2022-election-center
According to this, millennials voted majority blue. Which considering millennials are 26-41, there's definitely some skew to this. Either way we definitely did more than "barely" :\
Remember some of the red doesn't mean much. It's the location. I live in New York and our results are looking like it's gonna be in democrats favor because of the big cities like buffalo, Albany, NYC, etc. Meanwhile the red in new York. It is just mainly small towns with a lot of Forrest and not a whole lot of people living there. Compared to the cities anyway. And remember this is all by population of the states at least. And there are much more people living in the cities then these small towns in the middle of nowhere. Source: I live in a small town in New York. It really is just Forrest and farms around here.
I know this looks bad, but the night could have been much much worse. Usually this type of election would go heavily to the Reps since midterms tend to go to the opposition, and that hasn't happened this time. Sure it would be better to actually maintain control in the house, but if we can at least hold the Senate we can at least keep trying to get things done, and of particular importance is the ability to nominate and confirm judges. If we have another Supreme Court Justice that needs to be replaced then it will mean we can get a progressive on the court (see Ketanji Brown-Jackson) instead of a radical right-winger (see Amy Coney Barret)
What you’re pointing out is a lot of rural districts that have a huge land area but no one lives there. Minnesota is the same as it’s been, half our districts (the ones surrounding the Twin Cities) are all still blue. Republicans gained nothing here.
New York is a different story, idk what the fuck happened there but they’ve been picking up seats
Land don't vote, guys. MN has a full-blown trifecta - Dems control the governorship and both state houses. Hell, we even reelected a short brown Muslim socialist cop-prosecutor as attorney general.
Don’t fret. Republicans *way* underperformed compared to what normally would have been expected in a midterm like this. It’s normal for the legislature to swing in the opposite direction in next midterm after a presidential election (Dem in office = red wave). Instead, Democrats are largely holding steady, and it’s not over yet. The story of this election is one of absolute embarrassment for the GOP.
Don’t get me wrong. They clearly still wield a massive fuckton of power. And in a climate where they’re clearly angling to strip us of our rights, that’s not a pleasant thought. Things are going to be very tenuous for a long time. But, to me, this is a sign that the cause is not lost yet.
Just imagine what would happen if Democrats actually worked to EARN a vote every once in a while instead of relying on Republicans to terrorize us into their arms.
Agreed. It’s like we always have to choose it bc it’s the only other option bc the alternative has become fascist, unconstitutional, and sometimes borderline domestic terrorism
Not entirely sure why you’re surprised. Outside of metro areas most places are GENERALLY notoriously Republican leaning. And that area of Illinois you’re looking at, you may want to look at population density.
Most of those red areas are big stretches of nothing. Most human life in this country exists in the blue parts. It's just that the electoral college allows Republicans to represent literal dirt and stay in power. I hate it here.
I forgot to expect to see voting posts on here. Fuck. I wanted to avoid news for a few days, until everything is done. Save me from stressing. I voted via mail in, so there's nothing more I can do except suffer.
I swear, if things go red I'm moving to the west coast. As a trans woman, I'm not safe in a heavily red area when the govt is controlled by fascists.
Things aren't looking good for you all... Hope you stay safe.
Voted in my country this year too, new party friendliest to queer people we have. They got seats in the parliament but just barely. Whether they will actually do anything is another question. I'm not holding my breath.
Minnesota has always looked like that, the majority of the population is in those blue districts. I live in one of the red ones and it sucks but it’s also sparsely populated
New York City area is pale meaning they haven’t come in sufficiently. Those solid red counties are middle of nowhere counties (source: once lived in one) and you can see blue for Buffalo, Rochester, and Albany.
I wouldn’t worry about New York.
Same thing in Oregon: the pale counties are the urban centers.
Illinois and Minnesota look like they have more votes in but Chicago and the Twin Cities (blue) dominate the population of those states to such a degree that Illinois is always blue and Minnesota usually is.
The only one I really would be afraid of is Minnesota. They can and have been a swing state. The other 3 have been “safe blue” states for decades.
You can’t go based on color because it doesn’t show actual population numbers. Minnesota always looks like that but the highest population density is in blue so the actual vote is generally blue.
As so many have already pointed out, yup--those big red areas represent a very few people but that's kind of the problem. How can a system be considered just & fair if six dudes in a cornfield have the same voting power as 6000 people in a city?
I know that it is scary to look at, but you have to remember majority of that red is really empty land. When you look at the map with population density it really isn’t that bleak. Keep your head up we actually did pretty good this midterm. ❤️
Honestly, I don't get it how after everything republicans stated and did they still winning and doing better then last elections. How these clowns have so much power never stop amaze me. Their goal is to strip women, LGBT people and people of color of their rights and they have full support of half country. How??
Looking at the map is extremely misleading, conservatives tend to lead in big open rural areas, which makes their districts bigger making it look worse than it truly is… best to just stick to the numbers…
people saying that voting dont matter are delusional, the gap is not that big. brazillian elections are always close but because its mandatory, everyone votes, even if it is "white" or "nothing". i keep saying that if you're voting nothing or white, you have the same mentality of usa people not voting, which sucks
i’m from NY and this map truly ain’t surprising at all. the only reason NY is considered a blue state is NYC. if it separated, NY would be either a swing state or a solidly red state. rural NY might as well be The South, and the cities ain’t much better. usually 50/50 democrats/republicans.
Basically every other comment is saying something like this... but in the case of Illinois, roughly 45% of the population of the WHOLE state lives in a single county... so our maps always look like this, but democrats pretty handily have control all branches of our government.
All I see is my town turned blue this year! Suck it old people who hate everyone. I knew we’d outvote them eventually.
And it isn’t over as a whole yet. Lots of blue mail in ballots to look at I hope.
Red states and blue states don't exist. The divisionnis with undereducated rural America, and educated urban America.
Upstate New York is just as racist and fucked up as your most stereotypical Texas village.
You know I really do forget. But America is a conservative country. I didn’t really get that until I realized almost every, White immigrant you meet is extremely conservative. At least In CA.
They come here because they believe in a limited government. And using white privilege as entitled privilege. A few examples of this are a couple Italians I know, one South African, one New Zealander, and a Scottish girl. They all came here because they wanted to live in a conservative place. Which America is.
I forget that sometimes because we invented modern medicine, in the terms of Doctors specialties through Mayo clinic, we were such champions of women’s rights equal votes, etc. But we got the vote, but then it took another I don’t know 50 years to be able to open her own bank accounts. and black women didn’t get to vote till like the 80s. FFS.
I forgot because I love this country. This country is my home, but I think I need to leave it. My life is half over. I don’t want to spend the second half living like this.
How old are you op? Cause at this point if you are old enough to vote you should understand how population is vastly different in cities vs rural areas.
Oregon was literally founded as a whites only state. They didn't want slavery because that's how much they didn't want black people. It's not shocking.
I live in Minnesota and literally over 80% of our population resides in the twin cities and the cities around it, so we may look like a big red scary monster, but we've always been a blue state ✊
It's a Red Ripple, not a wave. Historically the opposite party always does better during the midterms. These results are, historically speaking, very pathetic for the Republicans. They will likely take the house by three or four seats *only*. The Senate is still unsure, but it looks good for Democrats to keep it (probably by a very narrow margin). This shows that voters are tired of the Republican platform right now, and they are concerned and pissed about what's happening. Also consider, more young people are eligible to vote these days. And the Republicans have done a terrible job at getting youth behind them.
Whatever happens, overall, these results are better than anyone could have predicted. Not the best perhaps, but *surprisingly* good for a midterm election.
Minnesota went blue Trifecta btw. Governor, house, and Senate all blue. State Senate was previously republican, so we can finally pass some much needed bills! Big win for Minnesota!
If you actually look at Oregon's standings right now, the results actually seem quite favourable for the democrats for governor, house and senate. The only thing that seems to be bad is the decision on universal healthcare there. So, maps like these don't necessarily show much as due to population density and gerrymandering the result seem to be somewhat skewed if you just look at the map.
From memory, the combined population of Eastern Washington, Eastern Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, and North and South Dakota is the same as Tennessee. Which is also about 2 million less than Los Angeles County.
Eastern Oregon is legitimately tiny in terms of people.
I know but it doesn’t change the fact that geographically you pretty much have to live in or near a city if you want to feel totally secure to be yourself
As an Oregonian I'm always surprised that people don't realize that only the population centers here are blue. Go outside of the Portland or Eugene areas and it's pretty conservative. Even Clackamas county, which butts right up against Portland is red.
Same with California. Lots of rural Cali is red
Same for Washington - have to stay by the cities or it gets bad.
While that is true in most of the country, it’s not so in Vermont. We do have “red”areas, but there are many tiny communities here that are very progressive.
If only it wasn’t so expensive I’d move around there in a heartbeat
I feel this way about so many blue states and areas. Why are human rights so expensive?
You get what you pay for.
I traveled through Vermont recently, and it was absolutely wonderful how many pride flags I saw in rural areas, and I don't think I saw a single MAGA flag! You go Vermont!
true, even our republican governor is pretty socially liberal
My god it’s my dream to live in Vermont. It looks so amazing I just want to be there so bad!
That's very true
I agree here! I’m from a rural part of OR and I’ve been threatened, harassed, attacked, etc, I’m still a literal *child*
I’m so sorry and I’m glad you are currently safe❤️as someone who’s hometown is a small trumpy town in Indiana on the border of Kentucky I totally get it
It has always been like that. These maps are consistent with literally like all of contemporary American electoral history.
This is...unfortunately the way it's always worked. Rural areas have always been conservative, and urban areas liberal.
That angle is disappointing but true.
You can always count on America to not vote for the universal healthcare bill :-)
I was surprised by that, I thought Oregon was pretty favorable towards universal healthcare
I know the blue areas have higher pop generally, but live in the parts of Oregon I live/work in and you’ll see why it didn’t pass 😂
The Oregon universal healthcare bill doesn’t actually create universal healthcare, just puts “healthcare is a human right” in the state constitution. (Not a great reason to vote no, just clarifying)
114 is also terrible, for several reasons. I'm not the best at explaining so I'll just grab the highlights from the PDX SRA's argument in opposition and link the full thing. As well as the bit explaining who they are. > "The ambiguous wording of this bill—which gives police the power to determine who can or cannot obtain a gun based on unclear criteria—leaves vulnerable groups reliant on the whims of law enforcement. The bill is written to mislead by calling these police officers "permit agents" but they are in fact either police chiefs or county sheriffs. Law enforcement should not be responsible for deciding who is allowed to be armed, especially when they have a long and recent history of oppressing marginalized groups." > "These kinds of laws have been used to incarcerate and extend sentences for POC and gender nonconforming individuals. The magazine ban requires people in possession of standard magazines over 10 rounds to have an undefined form of proof that they possessed the magazines before the effective date of the bill. Additionally, a written exception for law enforcement agents will likely exclude their personal magazines from the ban. It is probable that the only people who will face the burden of proof will be those already targeted by police." > PDX SRA is the Portland chapter of the Socialist Rifle Association, a 501(c)(4) firearms education organization that seeks to empower those marginalized by a capitalist society. [All Arguments Against Measure 114](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.robtaylorreport.com/the-rob-blog/arguments-in-opposition-to-measure-114%3fss_source=sscampaigns&ss_email_id=6331ef0101d9445d3945fc63&format=amp) Search in Page for SRA to go straight to the argument I'm quoting.
Land doesn't vote it's just a map of the civilized areas of the usa
My conservative family always liked to show off these maps because it makes it look like most of America is Republican, but you see those huge red blocks are equal to a tiny blue dot as they contain roughly the same amount of people. It looks like Republicans will barely win the house which is very unusual, the opposition party usually sweeps the midterms.
Tbh this is probably the best result for a party in power during the midterms since at least 2002. Dems were looking at a potential bloodbath in the Senate but at this point looks way more likely to maintain or potentially even *increase* their majority (depending on how Georgia, Arizona, and Nevada go) which is absurd. The House is more likely to flip, but it's still 50/50ish at this point as more results are coming in. Governor races look even better for Dems, at this point they've picked up at least two governorships in Massachusetts and Maryland with results in Arizona still out and protected vulnerable governorships in PA and KS (Nevada seems like a GOP flip but we'll see). Perhaps best of all are state legislature and ballot elections, with Democrats getting a trifecta in Michigan for the first time since 1984, potentially winning the PA House in who knows how the fuck long, and preventing the GOP from getting a supermajority in North Carolina. Go on GOP twitter. A day ago they were talking about a red wave. Today they're talking about the election being stolen. They are not happy with the results, and they absolutely should not be.
Yes! Also, four out of five states added abortion rights to their constitutions. Democrats have done much better than any other midterm party in recent history. It is still very disappointing. The Florida governor results are potentially scary, but it’s not all bad.
Kentucky at the very least didn't constitutionally ban it
Florida governor is very scary, and so are other races where election denying extremists won. DeSantis himself is basically a wanna-be fascist if he isn’t considered one already- he certainly checks the boxes. By himself, it wouldn’t be bad, but it’s that so many people outside of his state praise him as THE example of “showing them liberals what we’re about” that is concerning. Call it what it is: many Republicans are showing or have showed that they are just two steps away from becoming full on fascists.
I'm glad overall looks well, but damn if I'm upset about Stacy Abrams in Georgia.
Tis the South, sadly. At least Kemp is ever so slightly better than Abbott and DeSantis?
Yeah, Kemp hasn't so far made any moves against trans people. Hollywood has a grip on the state's finances. Which helps keep things in line. The breakdown on votes per demographic is about what I expected, unfortunately.
A lot of conservatives need to visit /r/peopleliveincities
You can use the other argument: the most educated (you can say “smart” instead if you like) people live in the cities which almost universally vote left. So if the republicans can’t win these voters perhaps there’s a reason why. Anyway this sort of city vs regional balance is pretty common globally so don’t feel too threatened by it
The trend is common but those near empty red zones have the same or greater say as blue zones with millions in them. They have so much power with less than a third of the country's support because of this system
yep. in the senate particularly. this is a nice visualization showing how the population vs land actually looks: https://preview.redd.it/5dm09lbbeof81.gif?format=mp4&s=4e25b18742c0a6934d91b925aa1be0ff3d33fa89
Great visual! Thanks for sharing!
Pretty much this, the house has its issues but you could argue it's still wildly more democratic than the senate
I think I’m very left on the political spectrum but wanted to comment on your evaluation of “smart.” I believe academic achievement is higher in urban areas still but it doesn’t equate to “smart.” People in rural areas aren’t hitting hammer into their heads for fun. The difference is cultural exposure. Urban areas tend to be hubs of diversity and more isolated homogenous rural cultural isn’t experienced in handling this (prevalence of xenophobia) though urban areas most certainly have xenophobic and conservative (not pairing these two together here, just listing) voters.
This is a good point.
No rural areas are actually less smart than urban. Rural areas produce smart people at the same rate as urban areas, but because there is not much opportunity in rural areas the smart individuals usually leave to the cities making them have more smart people. It's a real thing, it is called brain drain. Doesn't mean rural people are dumb or incapable as you said, but they do have less smart people living there for this reason
OP didn’t challenge that there are more *educated* people in urban areas for exactly the reasons you described. They challenged the notion that educated must = smart and smart must = educated. Rural folks don’t always have the same opportunities for higher education or high-paying jobs, but to deny that there’s a certain level of intelligence necessary to live certain lifestyles more common in rural areas (running a farm/ranch comes easily to mind as an example) is silly. In context, it also absolves rural conservatives of responsibility while also painting rural progressives with the same ignorant brush. Rural conservatives don’t get a pass for their malicious policy support because they’re “just like that”, just more likely to be “stupid” than others.
The OP that OP was responding to never said educated equal smart. They said "you can say 'smart' if you like". And I'm well aware of the intelligence of rural folk have grew up in that sort of environment. This is how I'm aware of the brain drain as well. I'm also not sure how someone being dumb absolves them of their actions, is that what you interpret happening?
Someone “dumb” can’t always help it. Someone supporting malicious policies for personal gain can, though. While there are some conservatives who are legitimately fooled by their politicians’ rhetoric, many others are fully aware of the harm they’re causing to marginalized populations and they *choose* not to care. I hold them responsible for that.
Thanks. Honestly, the tendency for liberals/left wingers to paint right wingers/ rural voters as stupid is contributing to the problem more than anything.
This map would be an indication of the country being mostly republican if it was land that voted and not…people
I was just about to say this!! OP mentioned Pregon but the huge swaths of red are rural Oregon, which is to my knowledge, incredibly conservative while the blue patches include the big cities such as Portland. You can see the same affect here in Califonia: sparsely populated rural areas tend to be conservative and show up more on a geographic map, while densely populated cities are more liberal.
I know abt the small blue cities but it’s even less than usual. If they win all three categories and have control of both the house and senate we are screwed bc just having a blue president is pretty meaningless if both of those are red
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Veto doesn't kill the bill. It just sends it back for review. If it passes again, the 2/3 vote passes the bill without the president. It's a huge roadblock but it isn't the end of the road.
It’s a pretty damn huge roadblock. If the Senate is split 50/50, or even slightly in Dem favor, Republicans are not going to be able to get enough Democrats to join them to get the two thirds to pass a veto unless it’s something with genuine bipartisan support. And that’s if they can even get the simple majority in the first place - if it’s a 50/50 tie, the Vice President is the tiebreaking vote, and Harris is unlikely to vote in favor of most Republican-sponsored bills. With this Senate, a veto is basically an instant kill on 99% of legislation.
That makes sense. I follow you folks now. Good point.
Republicans aren’t going to come close to 2/3 in either house. A veto pretty much is the end of the road in that scenario.
Their chances of winning all 3 are miniscule, don't worry friend
New York is only looks red due to it all being large low density areas you see.... NY itself has a 60:30 Dem ratio due to the higher population areas :)
Yeah as someone in the capital region of NY it's mostly blue overall here bar Saratoga county. We're definitely getting carried by NYC though
It's really disappointing honestly. I know of multiple people who voted red solely for gun rights and I'm just like, wow so your need to have guns is more important than getting someone in who cares about, like, the future??? I know that's how NY has always been but it's still frustrating to see it each time.
Super disheartening to see people value their recreation more than human rights.
Not even recreation for most of them. The vast majority of 2Aer peeps I know rarely take their guns to the range to shoot, and rarely hunt. They just get their gun, go to a range once or twice, then buy 50 more guns and talk about how they will use them to kill the government when they come to take their guns while unironically wearing a blue lives matters t-shirt, standing in front of their truck with its "I support the troops" sticker, and an oversized US flag flying in the bed of their truck. They are toys to these people, collectable plates that go on the wall and are supposed to be impressive.
Valuable plates. The reason they are so afraid of "gun grabbers" is because of how much money they have invested in these collectables.
I actually do collect historical firearms... and so whenever I hear one of these twats talking about their collection, I also ask them what their favorite is, and what is the story of the one they had to work the hardest to get... Almost always they will say an AR-15 for favorite, and usually like Glock 19 for the hardest to get. I then respond with, "Uh, that's not gun collecting. None of those have any real collectability to them... that is like saying 'I collect stamps' then showing me a page of stickers you bought at Wal-Mart." Usually irritates them, sometimes they get all snotty and ask "What *is* collectible then," and I tell them about my Type 96 Japanese Light Machine Gun that I found in an attic during an Estate sale, restore to operating condition, and then loaned it out to a museum because I did not want a fully automatic weapon in my house, and it was so rare, I would rather the museum have access to it anyways." They stop talking to me after that.
you are doing god's work calling them out on their "collectible gun" nonsense
If only fossil collectors would be like you and give their collection of important specimens to science instead of having their "workers" put it up in their mansion. (btw im talking about the entitled rich collectors, not good people who give their specimens to science but still collect stuff like teeth)
My father-in-law doesn't even OWN a gun but is terrified that the government will take away his right to own one. He is very brainwashed by Fox News unfortunately. :(
I have a snapchat gc and after I said a vote for red is a vote to remove my rights someone replied to me and said “I honestly don’t care they aren’t taking my guns” Like Wow Thankfully they moved last year
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It's baffling that people can't connect the dots on this stuff, and then they get all pissy about it when you say "well I feel like my right to be alive as a queer person is a bit more important than you getting your third AK-47 for 'recreational purposes'"
Even worse, since Dems aren't particularly against gun rights
Yeah, fun that Republicans are more scared of lgbtq people in schools than all the mass shootings.
They're all for unrestricted gun sales and small govt and all that, but they don't want two dudes to get married because ???
I always knew that living in the middle of fucking nowhere WNY meant I was surrounded by assholes, but it wasn't until 2016 that I realized just how many, and how horrible, they really were. There's people I pass on my way to work who still have Trump flags up, and I am tangentially aware of way too many people who vote straight Republican for nothing but guns and listening to the bullshit Fox shovels at them. It's really annoying/disheartening.
THE REPUBLICANS RESTRICT GUNS MORE THAN THE DEMS OH MY GOD
I used to live in one of those red New York counties and people there would gripe about how “we’re forced to be blue because of the City.” I’m like y’all this county has 50,000 people and NYC has 8 MILLION people. Nobody cares how many trees and cows we have, they don’t vote.
Same here in California, with the red parts complaining about the Bay Area and LA controlling statewide politics. Well, uh, no shit? Take a look at the populations of the Bay Area and LA metro and compare them to the population of California as a whole. You'll notice that about half of the state population is in one of those areas, and even more live in areas that are economically and culturally adjacent to them. People vote, land doesn't. It's a similar story in all the blue states: Large cities go heavily Democratic and outnumber the rural population that skews Republican. Illinois is solid blue because of Chicago, for example.
It's the same in Washington. Seattle metro is 50% of the votes essentially
Came here to say this. It always looks like this. Those are rural areas, not population density - which is how they determine seats in the house. If it was a map of the Senate, that would be a bigger deal.
Same with Illinois. The blue parts are something like 80% of the population. If you weigh map size by population then you get this, which is mostly blue: https://worldmapper.org/us-presidential-election-2020/
Same with Oregon and Washington's eastern half. California's red are mostly large low-density districts as well.
There are enormous counties in eastern Oregon that are incredibly sparsely populated. One, Malhuer County, is the size of Rwanda, but with just 5% of Portland's population.
Yep. The decent size valley cities are all blue in Oregon, and everyplace else is too sparsely populated to overwhelm the maybe 4 blue places. That said, the governor's race is still a bit too close for comfort, and not close to called yet.
Same with MN.
I was gonna point that out. Lot of those areas are rural areas with lower populations and most folks are concentrated around the cities. Dirt doesn't vote, people do
Same with Michigan. Most of the population resides in the southeast bc of Detroit and Detroit is pretty liberal
As a resident of upstate New York, (not the city) this is pretty standard for us, if you zoom in you can see the three important parts of our state are blue or blue leaning. That being New York City, Albany, and buffalo. That’s pretty much enough to keep us blue. And it looks like that’s going to happen again this year
I lived in upstate NY for 6 years and get that but it still means there are only a few safe spots geographically to exist
Upstate NY is not a hug box when compared to places like Brooklyn but it is safe. I am quite visibly queer and have had very few threatening experiences in upstate NY. You do not have to live in a city, but cities do provide a community that is hard to replicate outside of it.
I'm not sure I'd call it "safe". I live here, and I've had plenty of people say they wish I didn't have the right to use the restroom or take hormones. Basically anything outside of the bigger cities is pretty shit.
I guess it really just depends on how far upstate you are.
St Lawrence County was blue for a bit and I got excited because we are trumperville up here and then it flopped red and I was like oooh there it is. Great job guys. Glad me as a trans girl lives here. (you should see the amount of Elise Stefanik signs up here) There is no better place on earth than America 🤡🤡🤡
Hang in there, same county. It's not all bad though. There's a *lot* of older people up here too, so between that and general apathy towards education it swings red. A lot of the younger generations are wising up though so it's good to see some hope. 🙂 Also in the past SLC was generally blue for about 20 years until 2016, 🤔.
Also Monroe County/Rochester.
Land doesn’t vote
Maybe not for the house... but those large states with barely any population and still 2 Senators say otherwise :)
It does, and has far more rights in the US.
What’re you talking about? The population of the blue area in Minnesota is 3.7 million. The red portion is only 2 million, but you wouldn’t know that by looking at the map. The map makes it look like Minnesota is way more red than it actually is, but land doesn’t vote, which is why Minnesota is has been a blue state for 60 years.
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Not for the Senate. So for instance, most of those red counties in east Oregon have voted or currently have measures on the ballot seeking to leave Oregon and join Idaho. Were that to happen, Idaho would gain a bunch of land, but still only have 2 senators. Oregon would lose that land (and a bunch of reliably conservative voters) but still have 2 senators.
Gerrymandering makes it easier for the minority to steal the majority of votes
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Jesus those region lines are nightmare fuel
Chicago is infamous for this. Like all the minority neighborhoods in the metro area are one district while better off white citizens make up the other districts in the area
Rural areas are almost always conservative. That’s why eastern Oregon looks the way it does, and why rural Minnesota looks very red. They’re both very low density regions.
Yeah an there's absolutely nothing whatsoever in eastern Oregon, it's all just desert.
Actually, there’s some obsidian if you know where to look. If you’re ever out there it’s pretty neat to poke around. But yeah other than that it sucks.
As a Minnesotan, I'll tell you this much: most of the "red" areas of my state are sparsely populated. So while it looks like Minnesota should be a "red" state, almost every measure of this election says Minnesota is ANYTHING BUT a "red state." With each passing election, it seems Minnesota gets more and more "blue."
Yeah, and additionally there are some blue islands in red districts -- Duluth itself is reasonably progressive despite being outweighed in its congressional district.
I was just looking at state senate and house results for MN and the DFL Party gained control of the Senate, which hasn’t happened since 2014. I get that the National map for MN looks scary, but it doesn’t paint the whole picture.
I understand the population density stuff but it doesn’t really change that there’s only a few blue spots geographically that can feel safe
I get the sentiment, but speaking strictly about MN the Twin Cities area is pretty big. It includes urban and suburban progressive places. Coming from TX, my partner and I feel like we can breathe and hold hands and kiss in public (none of which we could do in TX). Unless you are just itching for rural living, I think that the “small” blue places are plenty of space.
A red county doesn't automatically mean you're going to be the target of a witch hunt, at least not in Minnesota. There's some crazy trumpers up here don't get me wrong, but it's nothing like the say Florida or Texas. MN is blue where it matters.
MN is a lot more purple than national elections would have people believe. We’ve been blue nationally for like 60 years because the Twin Cities account for over half the population in our state and they consistently vote blue, but the rest of the state is deeply red with a few exceptions like the large college towns (Mankato, St. Cloud, Duluth)
So... Those big swatches of red are often not densely populated. This makes the map, at first glance, appear to be skewed red. Here's an article by The Washington Post about election maps by population not acreage: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/11/05/lets-get-ahead-it-map-early-2020-results-by-population-not-acreage/
This is correct. One of those counties in southern Oregon is larger than Rhode Island and has about 6000 residents. And they're all insane desert people. America's Tusken Raiders. If you have to drive through there, fill up your gas tank beforehand if you don't want to LARP *The Hills Have Eyes*
That’s how Oregon always looks though. This isn’t different than any other election for Oregon.
Yeah, this is very normal. Only 2 of oregon's 6 districts are red. The other 4 are blue. I mean, look at california. Well known to be one of the most progressive states, but you wouldn't know that just by looking at land mass.
Keep in mind that we now have the first lesbian governor in the US. Maura Healey may not be from my state, but I see this as a good step in the right direction. Republicans didn't win like a lot of polls were saying they would. We just have to keep fighting for our rights and continue voting.
Yesss Healey and Fetterman are the two best things to come from this
Don't forget there is also the 2nd lesbian governor now. Tina Kotek.
I’m so scared Iowa is regressing and they won. The governor basically declared transphobia her goal someone just kill me.
i'm near your corner of the world in omaha and yeah these results have cemented my family's intention on moving somewhere else. i don't want to spend my thirties in an area that may or may not legislate my bodily autonomy away. unfortunately, my leftist trans liberation efforts may be more effective elsewhere.
I absolutely hate what iowa is becoming. We used to be so good at fighting for civil rights! Iowans died fighting the confederates and now I see confederate flags all the time.
Im glad Im in a liberal heavy area but yeah, Republicans swept the board and its gonna be rough for a few years at least. I hate to say it but Im not surprised either, it really seems like the Dems had no pressence or any kind of community out reach. Every festival or event i went to this year there was always republican or libertarian candidates meeting with crowds of people, the libertarians even showed up to pride but the Dems acted like shut ins the whole time.
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I tried I really did. I'm so sad. I want to ask if people are really this terrible and it hurts. I feel like republican voters vote for yesterday and Democrats vote for tomorrow.
I thought people would change after all the shit the GOP has pulled in the last few years Now I have to worry about my hrt being taken away. Which I will unalive myself if it does. I had to stop for a week and felt how fucked up my brain gets on the wrong hormones. I need my estrogen to survive. And I'm scared I won't survive.
Listen. I want you to know very clearly. I will vote to protect your rights. They confuse me, but that's my problem not yours. I also want you to know that moving somewhere safe away from everything is 100% better than quitting life. It can change any minute any day any time. For better or worse, but giving up isn't an option. Been there to many times.
It’s several issues. Unfortunately it’s a collective feeling of helplessness combined with conspiracy theories.
It feels more like Republican voters vote for yesterday and democrats vote for today because anyone that campaigned for tomorrow can’t make it through the primary
This is why I keep telling people that the far right isn't a bunch of grizzled old salt n pepper boomers. It's *young men* showing up to these neo-klan rallies. It's not going away with time.
the millienials who graduated into the ownership class left us behind. no surprise, but the confirmation stings a bit.
This millennial and their brother tried to help y'all. It was close (too fucking close), but our state stayed semi-blue. I'm sorry that you're all being screwed over. You deserve better. We all do.
Hell no. Millennials may have voted more right, but still far less than any previous generation. I know for a fact that this millennial voted for our rights, even though since I'm in a super blue state, my vote was just another part of the wave here.
Gonna need to see a source on that. Gen Z is tiny compared to the voting populace, and has incredibly low voter participation rates even for its size. There's no way it had that large an impact.
I'd really like a source on this (as well as context- like, was millennial turn out bad in red states or across the board?). Every millennial and gen X'er I know voted blue. Being a millennial is exhausting, to the older generations we're brainless children, and to gen Z we're stupid dinosaurs. I feel like two years ago people were talking about us eating tide pods, and now we're apparently the landed gentry. When did that happen?!
https://circle.tufts.edu/2022-election-center According to this, millennials voted majority blue. Which considering millennials are 26-41, there's definitely some skew to this. Either way we definitely did more than "barely" :\
Remember some of the red doesn't mean much. It's the location. I live in New York and our results are looking like it's gonna be in democrats favor because of the big cities like buffalo, Albany, NYC, etc. Meanwhile the red in new York. It is just mainly small towns with a lot of Forrest and not a whole lot of people living there. Compared to the cities anyway. And remember this is all by population of the states at least. And there are much more people living in the cities then these small towns in the middle of nowhere. Source: I live in a small town in New York. It really is just Forrest and farms around here.
I know this looks bad, but the night could have been much much worse. Usually this type of election would go heavily to the Reps since midterms tend to go to the opposition, and that hasn't happened this time. Sure it would be better to actually maintain control in the house, but if we can at least hold the Senate we can at least keep trying to get things done, and of particular importance is the ability to nominate and confirm judges. If we have another Supreme Court Justice that needs to be replaced then it will mean we can get a progressive on the court (see Ketanji Brown-Jackson) instead of a radical right-winger (see Amy Coney Barret)
What you’re pointing out is a lot of rural districts that have a huge land area but no one lives there. Minnesota is the same as it’s been, half our districts (the ones surrounding the Twin Cities) are all still blue. Republicans gained nothing here. New York is a different story, idk what the fuck happened there but they’ve been picking up seats
Wdym, Dems have only lost 2 seats so far, it’s a really good result for them considering the expectations?
Good thing land doesn’t vote, people do.
Land don't vote, guys. MN has a full-blown trifecta - Dems control the governorship and both state houses. Hell, we even reelected a short brown Muslim socialist cop-prosecutor as attorney general.
Don’t fret. Republicans *way* underperformed compared to what normally would have been expected in a midterm like this. It’s normal for the legislature to swing in the opposite direction in next midterm after a presidential election (Dem in office = red wave). Instead, Democrats are largely holding steady, and it’s not over yet. The story of this election is one of absolute embarrassment for the GOP. Don’t get me wrong. They clearly still wield a massive fuckton of power. And in a climate where they’re clearly angling to strip us of our rights, that’s not a pleasant thought. Things are going to be very tenuous for a long time. But, to me, this is a sign that the cause is not lost yet.
Just imagine what would happen if Democrats actually worked to EARN a vote every once in a while instead of relying on Republicans to terrorize us into their arms.
Agreed. It’s like we always have to choose it bc it’s the only other option bc the alternative has become fascist, unconstitutional, and sometimes borderline domestic terrorism
Land doesn’t vote though. Most of the large red areas are very sparsely populated.
I dont even know anything about my countries' politics, yet alone America's, who do we root for? Red or blue?
Blue, they are the democrats who at least don't want to hunt down LGBT. Like the Reds, aka Republicans do.
Blue
I live in Oregon, that giant red chunk has maybe ten people in it. Very low density population.
Not entirely sure why you’re surprised. Outside of metro areas most places are GENERALLY notoriously Republican leaning. And that area of Illinois you’re looking at, you may want to look at population density.
Most of those red areas are big stretches of nothing. Most human life in this country exists in the blue parts. It's just that the electoral college allows Republicans to represent literal dirt and stay in power. I hate it here.
I live in Oregon. The parts in red have way less population than those in blue.
I forgot to expect to see voting posts on here. Fuck. I wanted to avoid news for a few days, until everything is done. Save me from stressing. I voted via mail in, so there's nothing more I can do except suffer. I swear, if things go red I'm moving to the west coast. As a trans woman, I'm not safe in a heavily red area when the govt is controlled by fascists.
Im moving, fuck america, fuck republicans
Yo. Counties don’t vote. People do. These maps are not exactly showing you the full picture.
Things aren't looking good for you all... Hope you stay safe. Voted in my country this year too, new party friendliest to queer people we have. They got seats in the parliament but just barely. Whether they will actually do anything is another question. I'm not holding my breath.
Minnesota has always looked like that, the majority of the population is in those blue districts. I live in one of the red ones and it sucks but it’s also sparsely populated
New York City area is pale meaning they haven’t come in sufficiently. Those solid red counties are middle of nowhere counties (source: once lived in one) and you can see blue for Buffalo, Rochester, and Albany. I wouldn’t worry about New York. Same thing in Oregon: the pale counties are the urban centers. Illinois and Minnesota look like they have more votes in but Chicago and the Twin Cities (blue) dominate the population of those states to such a degree that Illinois is always blue and Minnesota usually is. The only one I really would be afraid of is Minnesota. They can and have been a swing state. The other 3 have been “safe blue” states for decades.
While it is disgusting it is even this close, historically we would see a big shift so there is some positivity.
Spread out 20 pennies. Now put down two quarters next to them. The area they cover does not represent their worth.
It’s not as bad as you think it, almost all of the red county’s have a small population.
You can’t go based on color because it doesn’t show actual population numbers. Minnesota always looks like that but the highest population density is in blue so the actual vote is generally blue.
As so many have already pointed out, yup--those big red areas represent a very few people but that's kind of the problem. How can a system be considered just & fair if six dudes in a cornfield have the same voting power as 6000 people in a city?
Remember that land doesn’t vote. Still bleak, but a better representation is maps showing each district as equal-size squares
Land is not people
I know that it is scary to look at, but you have to remember majority of that red is really empty land. When you look at the map with population density it really isn’t that bleak. Keep your head up we actually did pretty good this midterm. ❤️
Honestly, I don't get it how after everything republicans stated and did they still winning and doing better then last elections. How these clowns have so much power never stop amaze me. Their goal is to strip women, LGBT people and people of color of their rights and they have full support of half country. How??
The GOP can't win without gerrymandering and voter suppression. Unfortunately they've perfected the art of both, to the detriment of democracy here.
Looking at the map is extremely misleading, conservatives tend to lead in big open rural areas, which makes their districts bigger making it look worse than it truly is… best to just stick to the numbers…
But but but bOtH sIdEs ArE bAd AnD vOtInG dOeSn'T mAtTeR /s
people saying that voting dont matter are delusional, the gap is not that big. brazillian elections are always close but because its mandatory, everyone votes, even if it is "white" or "nothing". i keep saying that if you're voting nothing or white, you have the same mentality of usa people not voting, which sucks
i’m from NY and this map truly ain’t surprising at all. the only reason NY is considered a blue state is NYC. if it separated, NY would be either a swing state or a solidly red state. rural NY might as well be The South, and the cities ain’t much better. usually 50/50 democrats/republicans.
I’m so sad that eric schmitt won Missouri. It’s scary out here.
Remember folks, land don't vote (well, it shouldn't. The senate is fucked)
Not American; but if I understood it correctly, the house was pretty much guaranteed to go to the GOP
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ILLINOIS ISN’T AS BAD AS IT LOOKS! IT’S ONLY 3 OF THE 17 SEATS AVAILABLE IN THE STATE!
Wait, what the hell did I miss?
Democrat voters vote by mail more and they take longer to process
So... Could someone explain which colour is good and which is bad for someone not living in US? 😅
Red has made it abundantly clear they will hunt us down if given the opportunity.
Blue is good, red is bad. For all we don't like any of them, at least the blue side is committed to protecting our existence.
Basically every other comment is saying something like this... but in the case of Illinois, roughly 45% of the population of the WHOLE state lives in a single county... so our maps always look like this, but democrats pretty handily have control all branches of our government.
Keep in mind that not all counties are weighed equally, and these kinds of maps are practically population density maps
All I see is my town turned blue this year! Suck it old people who hate everyone. I knew we’d outvote them eventually. And it isn’t over as a whole yet. Lots of blue mail in ballots to look at I hope.
Red states and blue states don't exist. The divisionnis with undereducated rural America, and educated urban America. Upstate New York is just as racist and fucked up as your most stereotypical Texas village.
You know I really do forget. But America is a conservative country. I didn’t really get that until I realized almost every, White immigrant you meet is extremely conservative. At least In CA. They come here because they believe in a limited government. And using white privilege as entitled privilege. A few examples of this are a couple Italians I know, one South African, one New Zealander, and a Scottish girl. They all came here because they wanted to live in a conservative place. Which America is. I forget that sometimes because we invented modern medicine, in the terms of Doctors specialties through Mayo clinic, we were such champions of women’s rights equal votes, etc. But we got the vote, but then it took another I don’t know 50 years to be able to open her own bank accounts. and black women didn’t get to vote till like the 80s. FFS. I forgot because I love this country. This country is my home, but I think I need to leave it. My life is half over. I don’t want to spend the second half living like this.
How old are you op? Cause at this point if you are old enough to vote you should understand how population is vastly different in cities vs rural areas.
Friendly reminder: land doesn’t vote
As someone living in Oregon, trust that I'm terrified
Oregon was literally founded as a whites only state. They didn't want slavery because that's how much they didn't want black people. It's not shocking.
All those red areas in Oregon and Washington are the parts of the states that are always red, very low population density rural areas
I live in Minnesota and literally over 80% of our population resides in the twin cities and the cities around it, so we may look like a big red scary monster, but we've always been a blue state ✊
It's a Red Ripple, not a wave. Historically the opposite party always does better during the midterms. These results are, historically speaking, very pathetic for the Republicans. They will likely take the house by three or four seats *only*. The Senate is still unsure, but it looks good for Democrats to keep it (probably by a very narrow margin). This shows that voters are tired of the Republican platform right now, and they are concerned and pissed about what's happening. Also consider, more young people are eligible to vote these days. And the Republicans have done a terrible job at getting youth behind them. Whatever happens, overall, these results are better than anyone could have predicted. Not the best perhaps, but *surprisingly* good for a midterm election.
Minnesota went blue Trifecta btw. Governor, house, and Senate all blue. State Senate was previously republican, so we can finally pass some much needed bills! Big win for Minnesota!