What is the most left-wing city in America?

[Docere]

Inspired by this post:

https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/sho...54&postcount=3

By left-wing I mean like democratic socialists and so on, people who might vote Green or for the Peace and Freedom Party (obviously a majority of leftists vote D. The two party bifurcation does that and the Democratic Party is probably the most ideologically heterogeneous major parties in the world).

Among major cities, would it be Seattle?

[Busy Bee]

A lot of people might automatically think SF or Seattle but it's actually likely pound for pound New York.

[dc_denizen]

Portland

[Crawford]

DC, I think. DC has no moderate neighborhoods, even.

SF has socially conservative Asian neighborhoods. The whole western half of the city is pretty moderate. NYC has huge swaths of right-wing Orthodox and pretty big socially conservative ethnic nabes. Seattle and Portland have lots of zany ultra-left wing stuff, but both cities are largely socially moderate middle class white neighborhoods.

[Comrade]

Berkeley.

I think Biden won 93% of the vote in 2020.

[Crawford]

I think it's more about big cities. Yeah, obviously college towns like Berkeley, Cambridge, New Haven, Ithaca, Ann Arbor, Madison and the like will be super lefty, overall.

[Comrade]

Originally Posted by Crawford

I think it's more about big cities. Yeah, obviously college towns like Berkeley, Cambridge, New Haven, Ithaca, Ann Arbor, Madison and the like will be super lefty, overall.

Aye, tho Berkeley and Cambridge, unlike New Haven or Ithaca, Ann Arbor and Madison, are part of much larger metro areas, which I think makes it a bit more impressive as they definitely have big city vibes.

[Docere]

Not easy to distinguish left-wing D votes and centrist ones. It's a big tent, all D votes are the same. Perhaps one could look at the Sanders '16 primary vote for some clues. What percentage of Ds voted Sanders and what percentage does that represent of the total electorate approximately? But imperfect given different points in time, registration rules varying by state, primaries vs. caucuses etc.

[craigs]

Maybe Oakland?

[lio45]

Originally Posted by Comrade

I think Biden won 93% of the vote in 2020.

That has little bearing on the question. Lefties don’t necessarily vote for Biden. (Plenty of them will not even vote; we shouldn’t measure the left-right character of a place solely by election results.)

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by craigs

Maybe Oakland?

Oh yeah, Oakland would be a good choice. Probably no conservative white ethnic hoods for a generation at least, + lots of lefty areas, even in the Oakland Hills. Bonus points for founding location of Black Panthers and huge postwar labor strikes. SF might be more famously lefty, but is also much more patrician, and gigantic middle class Asian population.

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by Comrade

Berkeley.

I think Biden won 93% of the vote in 2020.

WTH? Biden isn't left wing.

[chris08876]

Probably NYC if I had to guess. Just by sheer numbers. Now maybe the LWP/sq.mile , which is a measure of the left wing persons per square mile, maybe SF?

Although I would imagine some section of say NYC have a much higher LWP/sq.mile just because of neighborhood density and the amount of overpriced coffee shops. NYC does have a low LWP density in Staten Island but skyrockets near NYU and near parks where folks skateboard and play chess and have literature circles, like Union Square Park.

[Comrade]

Originally Posted by sopas ej

WTH? Biden isn't left wing.

Who claimed Biden was left-wing? I doubt you'd find any city anywhere in the US where a left-winger won much of anything (hell, Bernie isn't even left-wing).

[Comrade]

Originally Posted by lio45

That has little bearing on the question. Lefties don’t necessarily vote for Biden. (Plenty of them will not even vote; we shouldn’t measure the left-right character of a place solely by election results.)

It's a tangible figure you can point to so I would hardly say it has little bearing on the question. The reality is that there's not a lot of leftists in America anyway, and certainly not to the extent where they make up a significant amount of a city's population to have any level of major influence.

So, let's just end any discussion then?

Having a couple thousand so-called leftists out of millions is so insignificant that it's like asking what major US city is the most Free Will Baptist.

There's not going to be a satisfactory answer because even places like Portland and Seattle are predominantly, and significantly, more liberal-leaning than leftist. It's why no major US city has a leftist mayor. They're all typically mainstream liberals or moderate Democrats.

[SIGSEGV]

Honolulu?

[SFBruin]

On the West Coast, I would say San Francisco.

Seattle is pretty left-leaning, but it still has kind of a small-town vibe that is resistant to change, imo.

[CaliNative]

A 3 (6?) way race: SF, Portland, Seattle. Maybe LA & NYC & Wash DC too. Those are six. If I were forced to pick, probably SF, although DC comes close. But even the lefties are outraged with the homeless situation, and the inability of the liberal city governments to do anything.

[Tuckerman]

This is kind of a dumb question as many big cities are majority Democratic Party - which is hardly left-wing (except by Republican and Fox News standards). However, I would mention the City of South Fulton, Georgia which has a Democratic-Socialist elected mayor. Still, to characterize any city in the US as left wing is a strange idea.

[WhipperSnapper]

Yeah, every city I've been to has a diverse political spectrum. Individuals that proudly identify as leftist can still have conservative tendencies towards ideas. The idea of a leftist is a construct of a democracy with two to few choices with any political power.