Politically extreme counties may act as magnets, migration patterns suggest

[bronxiteforever]

NOVEMBER 27, 2019
Politically extreme counties may act as magnets, migration patterns suggest
by Matt Swayne, Pennsylvania State University @ phys.org

In a study of county-to-county migration patterns in the U.S., the researchers found that when people migrate, they tend to move to other counties that reflect their political preferences. They added that the pattern also suggests that people moving from moderate partisan counties are just as likely to move to extreme partisan counties as they are to move to other moderate counties. However, people who live in a politically extreme county are significantly likely to move to a similarly extreme county.

... "We found that the places that were most likely to exhibit same-party preference in movement are counties that are politically extreme," said Bruce Desmarais, the DeGrandis-McCourtney Early Career Professor in Political Science, and a faculty co-hire of the Institute for Computational and Data Sciences (ICDS), Penn State. "What we saw was that movement from very Democratic or very Republican counties tended to be isolated to migration to other counties that are politically similar."

...He added that political scientists are concerned that as people geographically separate themselves, they may be less likely to encounter different points of view, which may then further widen this political divide.

“Now that they're in that partisan environment, it could mean they might not pick up exposure to people from across the aisle and pick up other kinds of opinions," said Desmarais. "They're just going to be exposed to their own echo chamber or their political bubble by being either in a very Democratic county or a very Republican county."

https://phys.org/news/2019-11-politically-extreme-counties-magnets-migration.html

[wcast]

2. I think this may be true for Republicans but not Democrats.

Republicans like to argue about self sorting, but I think it is the fact that if you move to a city which is highly diverse, you stop thinking like a republican and realize all people are the same. Your political outlook then changes.This is what makes cities a democratic stronghold.

Also, if you live in a city, most of which are highly Democratic in nature, you are more likely to move to another city, not for politics but for job, family, or you like the city life.

The reason Republicans like this viewpoint of self sorting is it justifies rural America's outsized influence on our Federal government. They say if only democrats move to cities it is their fault they have less of a political voice. Also, they aren't real Americans anyway.

Just my two cents.

[bronxiteforever]

3. Great points! I do think a city living experience

substantially adds to diversification of one’s point of view. Generally, in a city, you have to exist with everyone else either on the street or on a bus or subway or in the workplace.