July 25, 2004

The Blue States are Losing Citizens - Is it Because of Their Liberal Policies?

Overall, the states that voted for Gore last time have lost citizens, while those that voted for Bush have gained citizens. Due to reapportionment, this has cost blue states electoral votes.

From AP:

Four years ago, Bush won 30 states and their 271 electoral votes – one more than needed. Gore, who won the popular vote, claimed 20 states plus the District of Columbia for 267 electoral votes.

Since then, reapportionment added electoral votes to states with population gains and took them from states losing people. The result: Bush’s states are now worth 278 electoral votes and Gore’s are worth just 260.

Via mousemusings, here are details of the specific states that have lost electoral votes:

WOODRUFF: Let’s talk about some of the state’s that lost representations, that lost numbers in the electoral count. Which ones are they?

SMYTH: There were two Gore states that lost two electoral votes. those were New York and Pennsylvania. New York, which is a Democratic strong hold, Pennsylvania which was a close battle ground in 2000. Those were the only two states that lost two electoral votes. There were several states that lost one vote. Michigan was one, Connecticut, Illinois for example.

WOODRUFF: And what about the states that picked up electoral votes?

SMYTH: Well there were four states that picked up two electoral votes. And all four were Bush states. Texas was one, Florida, Georgia and Arizona.

Could this be proof that the liberal policies of those blue states have failed—in that they are driving their citizens away?

And in the beautiful tradition of American democracy, driving them to red states, thereby increasing red state electoral votes?


Update 7-29-04. Welcome, Carnival of the Vanities readers! This article was honored to be included in the latest Carnival of the Vanities, hosted this week by Jeff Doolittle.


Update 12-23-04: The trend appears to be continuing.