People are becoming increasingly likely to live close to those who look, act and think like them. Author Bill Bishop and Robert Cushing of the University of Texas, argue ... that this is happening because people all over the country are moving to communities where they feel culturally and politically comfortable.
In the close presidential election of 1976, 27% of voters lived in "landslide counties" -- counties where the winning presidential candidate had a margin of 20 points or more. In the 2004 election, almost half the country's voters (48%) did. That same year 60% of voters lived in counties that had not changed their presidential party preference since 1988.
So we are moving to places where we "feel culturally and politically comfortable?" Sounds like residential segregation by race, class, and politics. Residential segregation by race and class is nothing new in America. However, residential segregation by political preference is new and therefore interesting.
It would appear that the red states are becoming redder and the blue states becoming bluer as we sort ourselves out politically. Expect the red states to cut taxes and attract new business investment and therefore jobs, while the blue states raise taxes and lose jobs.
