Economy
Related: About this forumDemocrats and Republicans Aren't Just Divided. They Live in Different Worlds.
A major report by the WSJ, yes, "Murdoch evil empire"
Will try to post all the graphs. Perhaps should be in GD, but will start here.
The two parties represent radically different slices of the American economy.
Americas political polarization is almost complete. Its two main political parties increasingly represent two different economies. And they barely overlap.
Democrats can be found in educated cities and suburbs where professional jobs are plentiful. Republicans live in working-class and rural communities, home to agriculture and low-skill manufacturing.
Lets look at GDP, or the value of goods and services produced, to understand how the two parties are divided. These days, Democratic House districts are doing substantially better: Two-thirds of the nations GDP comes from those areas, with Republican districts making up the rest.
Share of real GDP, by congressional district in 2018
(Cannot transfer the label, the blue is 63.6%, the red - 36.4%)
You can see the change most dramatically by looking at House districts ranked by their contribution to GDP. A decade ago, Democrats represented House districts with both the most and least economic output.
Today, the picture is very different. Democrats are even more dominant among high-producing districts, while Republicans now represent more of those with the least economic activity.
The solid line is 2008, the dots are 2018
Also, at the bottom, the Paycheck Picture: Household income tells a similar story. A decade ago, median household income was about the same for each party. Since then, it has jumped nearly 17% in Democratic districts while falling 3% in Republican ones.
What is Behind the Splits, the report asks:
(In case it is hard to read the text)
Blue Industries
Democrats represent districts with the biggest clusters of professional jobs. That includes tech hubs around Silicon Valley and Boston. Nearly three quarters of jobs in digital or professional industries are in Democratic districts.
Red Industries
Republican districts, by contrast, hold growing shares of the nations agriculture, mining and low-skill manufacturing jobs, many of which do not require a college degree, have lower pay and are more exposed to overseas competition.
Look at the data another waythese two charts show where industries clusterand the pattern becomes even clearer.
Low-skill manufacturing has a strong presence in Republican districts, particularly in more rural communities scattered across the country, from Arizona to Wisconsin.
Again, solid line 2008, dots 2018
Also at the bottom of the graph:
Location, Location, Location
The two parties represent different parts of the economy, in large part because they represent different kinds of places.
Once, the parties were geographically intertwined. But in 2010, the tea party election wiped out Democrats in rural and working-class districts across the Midwest and Southeast. The 2018 midterms ousted Republicans from many suburbs.
The Education Divide
People with college degrees are more concentrated in Democratic districts than in Republican districts.
Why does this matter?
When folks have less in common with one another, its hard to expect that theyre going to see the problem the same way, said Roger Johnson, president of the National Farmers Union, let alone recognize that a problem exists.
https://www.wsj.com/graphics/red-economy-blue-economy (paid subscription)
sharedvalues
(6,916 posts)question everything
(47,476 posts)It is about the economy. Was valid when Clinton ran and now.
Wouldn't it be nice if many here started judging posts and reports by their contents and not kill the messenger?
Yes, I know, keep dreaming.
sharedvalues
(6,916 posts)Just pay attention to the words!
Bull sh*t.
Every propaganda publication must have some truth or readers leave. And the choice of what they cover is ITSELF a propaganda method.
WSJ and the Murdoch ownership are some of the biggest factors that Trump is in office. They subtly twisted their choice of coverage in 2016 to get Trump elected.
No patriotic American reads WSJ. Period. If you do, youre being suckered by Murdoch.
Cancel WSJ. Subscribe to the FT.
sharedvalues
(6,916 posts)"The medium is the message"
This is politics -- and media -- in 2019.
It might not have been this way in 1972. But it is today.
question everything
(47,476 posts)Confirming what we have been saying that blue states are net givers while red ones are net receivers?
sharedvalues
(6,916 posts)Which is one of the most critical relevant points about red areas today
snowybirdie
(5,225 posts)Very rich Republicans in many places and dirt poor Democrats in others.
question everything
(47,476 posts)Did you actually look at the graphs? No, I suppose not. Killing the messenger is the modus operandi here.
sharedvalues
(6,916 posts)is the modus operandi here.
This is DEMOCRATIC underground.
The Murdoch press is destroying America. That messenger deeply deserves to be criticized.
question everything
(47,476 posts)What a way to win
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10142370520
sharedvalues
(6,916 posts)Murdoch runs the same playbook at every newspaper he owns:
Install a handpicked editor to bias its coverage.
Happened at the Sun. The NY Post. The Times UK. The WSJ.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/08/24/top-wall-street-journal-editor-trashes-staffs-trump-article-in-emails-leaked-to-new-york-times/
Since the election, some journalists at the Wall Street Journal have expressed frustration with what they say is overly cautious and deferential reporting on Trump, at a time when competitors are aggressively scrutinizing the president.
The most recent sign of discontent emerged Wednesday in emails leaked to the New York Times, along with the draft of a story critiqued by the editor in the emails. While internal emails and memos routinely leak from news organizations, story drafts do not.
According to the Times, Gerard Baker, the editor in chief of the Wall Street Journal, emailed a group of reporters and editors regarding the draft of a Journal article covering Trumps rally in Phoenix. In his midnight message, Baker asked his staff to tone down language in the story that he characterized as opinionated.
sharedvalues
(6,916 posts)But the urban/rural red/blue strong economy/weak economy divides have been quite clear for a long time.
Its just that you need that division AND propaganda in media to get the rural voters to deflect their populist anger away from the billionaires screwing them and onto immigrants. That propaganda is Murdochs stock in trade.
snowybirdie
(5,225 posts)Course once. Data can be manipulated. I usually check out more than one source because of this.
kurtcagle
(1,602 posts)Those rich Republicans are increasingly outliers as the population ages. Pickens and David Koch both died within the last month, and the wealthiest oil barons at this point are all octagenarians. On the other hand, the tech barons - Gates, Ellison, etc. are mostly in their mid-60s at this stage and are more likely to be Democrats (or comparatively moderate Republicans).
On the flip-side, most minorities have benefited significantly with the technology economy. Lower barriers to entry have meant that you didn't need anywhere as large a financial stake to start a business, and that's had the additional impact of creating an upper lower class that is slowly defusing into the lower middle class, even as the central middle-class shrinks. The jobs that are going away - linework assembly within manufacturing, requiring skill but not necessarily college, which was concentrated in the Midwest and Southeast, and the very tail end of the Coal Economy (which was first superseded in the 1880s by the Oil Economy). Even there, there's unskilled work, but a very conservative culture in that region has trouble recognizing the legitimacy of that work because it comes out of the latte-sipping liberals' camp.
So, I would suspect the analysis is largely correct.
KPN
(15,643 posts)manipulates those who ultimately vote against their own interests. A significant share of these voters are lower income, unskilled and less educated, yet the GOP finds a way to appeal to them (racism, bigotry and so-called Christianity primarily). Yes, there are rural farmers and landowners who cherish their relative independent/individualist lifestyle who make a sizable chunk of GOP voters, but most fall into the "vote against their own economic interests" category.
It's mind-boggling. ...... And this is why I support Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, by way of straight-forward, clear, understandable, and persistently consistent messaging about
economic issues and how they affect common lives.
CrispyQ
(36,461 posts)Our side has ignored hate radio for decades & we still do. I just don't get the blinders dem leadership & major dem orgs have to the impact of hate radio.
sharedvalues
(6,916 posts)Midnight Writer
(21,753 posts)Farmer-Rick
(10,163 posts)I really don't think the differences are that stark. Once ...before gerrymandering...east TN voted Democratic regularly. Switch up a few votes and they would vote democratic again.
My district is a snake wandering along the border. It's rigged to split up liberals and give the Cons a majority in each district.
Statistics can easily be manipulated. It's just another con from Murdoch's Wall Street Urinal.