NC Voters reflect demographic shift
Published July 16, 2014
by Rob Christensen, News and Observer, July 15, 2014.
Nearly half of North Carolina voters in the last election were born somewhere else, a fact that is particularly evident in fast growing metropolitan areas such as the Triangle.
That likely means that old loyalties and ties mean less today than in the past – whether to political parties, or regions or to traditional cultural issues. The successful candidates are more likely to be those who can appeal to urban/suburban voters.
During the 2012 election, 48 percent of the voters were born outside North Carolina, according to data collected in a new study by the UNC Program on Public Life, which is examining demographic and electoral trends that have positioned North Carolina as one of the nation’s swing states.
That swing status was underscored during the past two presidential elections. In 2008, North Carolina was Democrat Barack Obama’s closest win. In 2012, North Carolina was Mitt Romney’s closest win.
North Carolina was once the most homegrown state in the country. At one time there was a good chance you could place a person’s home county by their last name. But it has been changing over the decades.
The percent of population not born in North Carolina was 5 percent in 1900, 13 percent in 1950, 22 percent in 1970, 37 percent in 2000 and 42 percent in 2010 (48 percent in voting-age population).
The counties with the heaviest in-migration between 2004-2012 were Mecklenburg, Wake, Durham, Buncombe and Cumberland. Other counties with significant in-migration included urban areas such as Guilford and Forsyth, coastal counties such as Onslow and New Hanover, recreational and retirement areas such as Moore and Brunswick and suburbs such as Cabarrus, Union, Orange and Henderson.
The top states where the migrants are coming from, in order, are: Florida, Virginia, New York, South Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Maryland and California. (In Wake County, the top contributors of migrants were New York, Virginia, Florida, New Jersey and Maryland.)
More unaffiliated voters
In most of the large counties, the in-migration has meant a sharp increase of unaffiliated voters and to a lesser extent Democratic voters. In Wake County, for example, between 2004-2012, there was an increase of 100,095 unaffiliated voters, 79,344 Democratic voters, and 31,727 Republican voters.
The influx of newcomers has generally helped make the urban counties more Democratic, while making the suburban and beach counties more Republican.
What this all means is there is a political shift going on in the state, with the large metropolitan areas playing a larger role in North Carolina politics. The metro areas tend to have a greater percentage of people born outside the state, and their cities are becoming more Democratic, while the suburbs are becoming more Republican.
Which means, bagels as well as grits will be now served at many North Carolina political breakfasts.
http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/07/15/4008236/christensen-bagels-and-grits-in.html?sp=/99/102/105/
July 16, 2014 at 11:01 am
Norm Kelly says:
People move OUT of the area they are from for a reason. Sometimes it's job related. Some move because of the environment: schools in their home district aren't as good as they want, their business isn't appreciated so it moves to an area that is more business friendly, taxes in the home district are too high, government gets too involved in day-to-day life. There are a myriad of reasons that people move to a new area.
My challenge is those people who move to an area and decide the new area needs to be more like the old area. It seems some people don't remember why they moved out of the old area, so they start to transform the new area to be like the old. Taxes are a good example. Taxes in places like NJ are simply too high to justify. As is NY. So when those people brag about where they are from, then start demanding that we do the same things, the same way that they do 'at home', we start to wonder why. DemocRATs have shown their ability to destroy the areas they control, both economically and socially, yet some of these people who move here don't pay enough attention to recognize what they are doing to their new area/home. If YOU move HERE, shouldn't you conform to the new region, where YOU purposely move to? Shouldn't you learn something about the new area before you start trying to change it to be just like the area you left? If you don't like the new area and are 'homesick', then the solution is for YOU to move back HOME!
Some of us can see reality and don't like it. Some of us can see that socialism has it's own failure built into it. Some of us can look around the country and see that socialists/libs/Demoncrats have no good ideas, no new ideas, no sense of how to do things right. Take Detroit as a perfect example. Take NY as a perfect example. Take NJ as a perfect example. There are a huge number of cities, counties, states run/controlled by the demon party to use as perfect examples. There are countries in Europe that have been trying to destroy their nations through socialism, and many of them have succeeded, that we can look at to see how poorly their 'ideas' work. Why do so many who move here want to force their old lifestyle, that they left, onto those of us who also left it and are glad as heck that we did.
The biggest difference between urban areas and rural areas seems to be a self-reliant attitude. Those in the rural areas tend to be more self-reliant. Those in the urban areas tend to be more inclined to expect the government to be involved in daily life. This is true of a major difference between conservatives and socialists/demons as well. There are those with the belief that 'there oughta be a law' and they seem to congregate in the urban areas. There are those who believe there oughta be a way for someone to help out, and they tend to congregate in the urban areas. They don't personally want to help, they want to force someone ELSE to help. The rural areas simply get together and help each other out. And people appreciate the help and do what they can to get out of needing ongoing help. When government gets involved in helping, the help seems to be unending and ever-growing. Which is pointless. But too many in-migrants don't remember their past long enough to adapt. What a shame. And then these in-migrants do things like vote for the socialist without thinking about the damage he's already done, forcing their screwy beliefs on the rest of us!
