Alaska: Future swing state?
The state where President Obama most improved his performance from 2008 was Alaska. He lost it by “only” 14 percentage points this year, considerably less than his 22-point margin of defeat in 2008. …
One factor is that Alaska’s vote is quite elastic, meaning that it can shift quite a bit from year to year. In 2008, 43 percent of voters in Alaska identified themselves as independents on the exit poll, among the highest percentages in the country. (There was no exit polling in Alaska in 2012.) …
Alaska’s population is also changing; between 2010 and 2011, Alaska had the third-highest population growth rate in the country, trailing only Texas and Utah.
Where are those new Alaskans coming from? Many are from liberal states on the West Coast. Between 2005 and 2009, about 4,300 Californians moved to Alaska per year, making it the top state for domestic emigration to Alaska. So did 4,200 residents per year from Washington and 2,200 from Oregon.
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Californians are a national virus thats going to infest the rest of our country.
Wish it would just fall off into the ocean already.
Defenestratus on December 7, 2012 at 10:37 AM
More proof that liberal locusts move from one ruined state to the next and ruin the new one in turn.
Bishop on December 7, 2012 at 10:38 AM
Wish the libs would stay in the states they leave in tatters. You voted it in, you reap the reward.
changer1701 on December 7, 2012 at 10:40 AM
Umm.. Aren’t we forgetting a difference between 2012 and 2008.. This is the one state where Palin helped the ticket.
Illinidiva on December 7, 2012 at 10:42 AM
I dunno. The people that are fleeing California are (generally) the more conservative ones with small businesses and livlihoods to protect who have seen firsthand what Liberal dominance of all parts of state government hath wrought. Like Eastern Europeans who spent decades sufferring under Soviet dominance, they might be some of the most zealous defenders of individual liberty.
Dukeboy01 on December 7, 2012 at 10:43 AM
I’ll just repeat what I said about the recent editorials claiming Texas is on the verge of becoming a swing state. The day either the Lone Star State or Alaska go purple, this nation will already be insolvent and finished anyway.
Doughboy on December 7, 2012 at 10:46 AM
One thing that really really ticks Alaskans off is all the liberal immigrants from California. Or, so I’ve heard.
dczombie on December 7, 2012 at 10:46 AM
Alaska is a pretty harsh and unforgiving place to live.
Hard to see CA liberal coasties moving there voluntarily. It’s like, real cold dude. And the place is like, totally crawling with armed Rush Limbaugh clones. Dude, it seriously harshes your mellow.
CorporatePiggy on December 7, 2012 at 10:47 AM
“White (liberal) flight” is a well-known tactic by now. One of the biggest reasons after tax avoidance is that liberal ‘parents’ suddenly start worrying about the local unruly minority males when their daughter(s) turns old enough to get pregnant.
You’ll almost NEVER hear them say this, though.
MelonCollie on December 7, 2012 at 10:52 AM
mURcOWsKI indicates yes!
astonerii on December 7, 2012 at 10:52 AM
Sadly, not true. Oregon is infested with liberal California transplants who move here for the lower taxes, cheaper housing, less crime, etc., etc., etc. (although they’ll never admit it), who continue to support all the policies that caused them to flee California in the first place.
Realist on December 7, 2012 at 10:56 AM
Alaska already has two Democrat senators.
Joey24007 on December 7, 2012 at 10:57 AM
I grew up in Alaska. It is definitely not lib friendly territory for a variety of reasons. Men are actually men there instead of pussified houseboys like libs prefer. However based on the current trajectory of the culture in less than a generation there will be no more red states.
Kataklysmic on December 7, 2012 at 10:59 AM
Alaska has three electoral votes. Nobody cares.
apostic on December 7, 2012 at 10:59 AM
Shocking that Alaska (home of the greatest patriot and most brilliant, inspirational politician of a generation) is heading on the road to Hades.
Pablo Honey on December 7, 2012 at 11:02 AM
When you read the whole piece, Silver is arguing it’s a Libertarian-left movement to Alaska, not progs.
So, he thinks it’s on the verge of becoming the next irreligious, stoner state.
But it really comes down to if they attract “social activists”, i.e progs.
Then, you’ve got a movement based on crippling Alaska’s industries over environmental fights.
People really need to start looking into the demo patterns of these migrations:
Ethnicity, occupations, age, job re-location versus self-movers, etc…
Something is telling me this isn’t simply “flee Cali”, but an organized attempt to weaken red voting states and turn many of them purplish, so we’re fighting on our home turf.
It’s all public domain info. We need an institute to fund the research/investigation.
budfox on December 7, 2012 at 11:03 AM
Wow, who knew Libruls would tolerate 50 below zero
temps and 6 months of darkness?
May a Grizzly bear bite them all in the AZZ!!
Better yet, let them jump into their
Prius’ to venture over to the Palin household to harrass her..
..hopefully she lays skid marks on them with a four wheeler…
ToddPA on December 7, 2012 at 11:04 AM
I have quite a few friends who moved to AK to take jobs at University of Alaska Anchorage. They love it! Nice to see the lefties infiltrating the whole nation. I think we used to be scared of flyover country, but when you move en masse its not so bad.
libfreeordie on December 7, 2012 at 11:08 AM
This. I live in Northern VA – same deal, although it has more to do with government expansion. My friend in Raleigh, NC – a state we only narrowly carried, same deal. Tons of northeast transplants, too stupid to figure out the connection between the way they vote and the greener pastures down south.
Look at frigging LeBron James. Big Obama fan – takes a job with the Heat in large part because there’s no state income tax. Liberalism is indeed a mental disorder.
The Count on December 7, 2012 at 11:10 AM
Locusts.
Can we enact a DNB Order (Do Not Breed) for libs?
portlandon on December 7, 2012 at 11:15 AM
States are going to have to start enforcing who cannot come in.
MelonCollie on December 7, 2012 at 11:17 AM
Yep. Oregon is a cesspool of California libs who moved here to escape. Then they decide their lives aren’t miserable enough and want to change Oregon into the crap infested scab they left by getting on school boards/ city councils.
In the eyes of the Californian, they are “Helping us” by turning Oregon into the Hell hole they moved to get away from.
A pox on migrating liberals.
portlandon on December 7, 2012 at 11:18 AM
Begich barely won in a huge Democrat year while Ted Stevens was being wrongfully prosecuted. If the GOP can’t regain that seat in 2014, they’re truly hopeless.
Doughboy on December 7, 2012 at 11:18 AM
He lost by only 14 points??? Obama won by 50.9 v. 47.3 nationally. That’s hardly a huge margin and the GOP kept the House. The triumphalism is reaching the absurd level.
Vera71 on December 7, 2012 at 11:25 AM
Juneau is full of libs too. I guess many capitals are. Government workers, except for military are all Democrats. One thing that irritated when I visited the state history museum in 2010 was their section on Alaska politics had an Alaskans for Obama display. Obama has zero connection to Alaska but rated a small display there anyway. Obamabots infest everything.
juliesa on December 7, 2012 at 11:31 AM
This is really why we’re fighting a losing war. Look around at the electorate – people immigrating here legally and illegally from third world south American countries, mideast hellholes where their women come here and still wrap themselves from head to toe.
Liberals love to cast aspersions upon us for pointing it out, chalking it up to jingoism and xenophobia and so on, but all societies are not created equal. It’s not their skin color – it’s the culture they come from. And, for the record, we’ve got our own homegrown black culture that has the same problem.
They don’t understand liberty. All of them voted for Obama. You think these people move here and give a crap about the Constitution or your private property rights? They’ll strip you of your free speech, your guns, fleece you in taxes to get what they want.
The Count on December 7, 2012 at 11:37 AM
Yeah and you ruin everything. You vote for all the crap in your blue states and when you actually get what you want higher taxes etc. you move. And then instead of learning from your mistakes, you vote blue in your new state. We don’t want you; you smell up the place.
melle1228 on December 7, 2012 at 11:42 AM
Do you ever stop and think of why conservatives don’t move en masse to blue states? That’s a rhetorical question, so I’ll give you the answer: because the job markets suck, and if you’re lucky to find a job, you’ll face draconian tax rates, to go along with your astronomical living expenses. Why do you guys never internalize the cause and effect relationship between your policies and migration patterns?
The Count on December 7, 2012 at 11:50 AM
The way its going, California: Future swing state.
tommy71 on December 7, 2012 at 11:56 AM
The amusing thing about liberal California transplants (along with other Portland liberals) is they frequently trumpet their commitment to “diversity”, while carefully making sure that they live in the whitest big city in the United States.
If they really liked “diversity”, they would have stayed in Los Angeles.
Realist on December 7, 2012 at 11:56 AM
Same thing is happening in eastern Pennsylvania. Libtard refugees from NY and NJ are starting to stink up the place. Won’t be long before they’re chasing the Amish out.
CurtZHP on December 7, 2012 at 11:57 AM
I think the line in that paragraph I would most take issue with is “I have quite a few friends
Tim Zank on December 7, 2012 at 12:05 PM
FACT
Wherever hippies gather, quality of life decreases….
Tim Zank on December 7, 2012 at 12:07 PM
Is that why McCain/Palin won AK by 22 points and Mittens only won by 14, genius? Is that why AK’s credit rating was upgraded to AAA under Palin’s tenure, while the nation has been downgraded under Obastard’s, genius? Is that why Palin had an approval rating consistently above 80%, sometimes as high as 93%, up until she ran for VP, genius? Is that why Palin left AK with a 12 billion dollar surplus, while Obastard will leave the US with 20 trillion in debt, genius? Is that why Palin’s key legislation passed the state legislature unanimously, while Obama’s key legislation didn’t get a single Republican vote, genius? Why don’t you tell us, genius?
Walter Sobchak on December 7, 2012 at 12:28 PM
Stop re-writing history you revisionist liar. The exit polling showed that McCain won by a significant margin among voters who thought the VP choice was important. Even the backstabbing lowlife smear-merchant Steve Schmidt admitted as much.
Walter Sobchak on December 7, 2012 at 12:35 PM
Shocking you’re posting anti-Palin BS on an Alaska thread.
Shocking.
Hey Bluegill, you have a Playdate.
ToddPA on December 7, 2012 at 12:58 PM
VA is seeing this same trend of liberal immigration specifically in Northern VA (from states such as the Peoples Republic of Maryland). It sickens me as well when they move from state to state leaving nothing but ruin and their cultural influence to ensure more lefties are bred in their wake. Yuck.
heretic on December 7, 2012 at 1:48 PM