New Census data show that roughly half of the states had net gains in population in 2022, and the other half net losses, thanks to what’s called internal migration. The winners were almost entirely red states, the losers blue. There’s a huge opportunity for conservatives, if they seize it.
Think about this migration trend for a minute. The map below shows the net migration of hundreds of thousands of people in 2022. (On this map, which is a screenshot from CBS News’ website, the redder a state the more people it lost, and the bluer the more it gained.)
…To the liberal media, this is something of a mystery. CBS News says that the reason red states gained population was that many have “job markets that grew faster than average during the pandemic” and “housing is more affordable and available than in parts of the country that lost residents.”
But it doesn’t even attempt to explain why these differences exist. Was it just dumb luck? Good weather? Magic?
Of course not. The reason jobs are plentiful and housing prices low in red states is precisely because they didn’t act like socialist dictators during COVID. And for years before COVID they tended to pursue conservative economic policies – low taxes, fiscal prudence, a pro-business climate – that the left routinely dismisses as “trickle-down economics.”
The problem is that far too many of these internal migrants take their ideology with them and push for the same leftist politicians and the same policies that they just fled.
It would be like Cuban refugees all voting for Castroite candidates and socialist policies as soon as they land in Florida.
This disconnect between knowing things are bad but not knowing why is troubling, if for no other reason than that blue flight ends up more like a socialist virus than a win for free markets. The more people leave places like California for more hospitable climes, the more those states start to turn blue.
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