Why the Liberal/Conservative Split is also an urban/rural split

[bluestate10]

12. Some rural people voted for Obama. But rural people voted overwhelmingly for Romney.

There was a statistic on the election showing that no major city voted for Romney except Phoenix, and that city went to Romney barely. Romney picked up all of his big vote count in rural areas. As a matter of fact, Ohio, and Pennsylvania were close only because Romney did well in the rural areas of those states. Romney beat Obama handily in the rural South and interior West.

Some people have thought about how democrats can win red states. Some say that doing well in rural parts of red states is key, I don't think that will work. Young people that could serve as a beach head in rural areas largely mostly leave those areas for large cities when they grow up, the young people that remain are typically the less educated ones. My sense is that democrats can win the South and Interior West, but cities and large towns will serve as the basis for those wins, similar to what has happened in Virginia, Florida and to a lesser extent, North Carolina. We can take Georgia, Texas and Arizona within the decade, but those wins will come from the big cities and towns in those states.