I have a question, Floridians -- Spouse and i are thinking of buying a house in Florida

[Sancho]

2. Hmmm...maybe you have to see Florida as purple at best.

I'm on the West coast, a union member, and I know a bunch of liberal folks. Unfortunately, my typical middle class neighborhood (retirees on both sides, working people with kids across the street, etc.) has some seriously hard core repubs that will drive you crazy. Many watch Fox, donate and put up yard signs, and spout the old rhetoric about war, taxes, and racism. Our home owners' meetings are split along party lines pretty equally.

There are a good many here who worked for companies that are tied to the military, energy, or financial institutions. They are really difficult to talk with so I usually just agree to disagree.

Florida has lots of folks from up North, a very large immigrant population (not just Hispanic), and a gerrymandered state legislature that is pretty much Tea Party. Elections are close enough that Democrats can win sometimes. There are more registered Democrats, but they tend not to vote.

It's warmer here (I'm going sailing this afternoon). In 22 years here, it has not been below freezing at my house in Clearwater. An occasional drop to the 40's is about it. Of course, you have to get used to hurricanes in the summer.

I think St. Pete is becoming pretty liberal recently. Clearwater/Largo/Tampa are mixed. I think of Jacksonville as pretty conservative. Miami is liberal, but it's also Spanish speaking. Parts of Sarasota and Ft. Myers are liberal, but further South in Naples I see them as quite conservative. The center of the state (Ocala, Gainesville, Orlando) have communities that are divided into liberal and conservative towns and neighborhoods that are pretty segregated. Stay out of the panhandle, they are right wing zealots.