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.

[wwmiv]

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

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

They automatically think SF and Seattle because the data supports it:

Seattle—
2004-2011: -0.51
2012-2016: -0.45
2017-2021: -0.60

San Francisco—
2004-2011: -0.50
2012-2016: -0.45
2017-2021: -0.54

New York—
2004-2011: -0.37
2012-2016: -0.30
2017-2021: -0.36

[Docere]

Originally Posted by wwmiv

They automatically think SF and Seattle because the data supports it:

Seattle—
2004-2011: -0.51
2012-2016: -0.45
2017-2021: -0.60

I think I said Seattle was #1 in the OP.

I can see Portland being ahead of Seattle though because Seattle is more "corporate" and Portland has much of the same Pacific NW countercultural outlook.

[wwmiv]

Originally Posted by Docere

I think I said Seattle was #1 in the OP.

I can see Portland being ahead of Seattle though because Seattle is more "corporate" and Portland has much of the same Pacific NW countercultural outlook.

Of the cities I’ve posted data for, if we limit it to anchors of major metro areas, Seattle is barely ahead of San Francisco (not outside of the error, by the way, so we can’t say for certain Seattle is truly more left) and both are ahead of Portland in the data outside of the margin of error.

However, if you broaden what you’re looking at to, say, a weighted average of all counties (they supply data for counties as well) in a metro area, I am gonna go out on a limb and say that it’d be San Francisco > Portland > Seattle.

Broadly speaking, though, there are only six major urban cities and environs in which the average person is actually leftist: those three, plus D.C., Minneapolis, and Boston.

New York, Chicago, et al. are a notch less left and even places like Austin are comparatively conservative.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by wwmiv

Broadly speaking, though, there are only six major urban cities and environs in which the average person is actually leftist: those three, plus D.C., Minneapolis, and Boston.

Why do you say D.C.? I've never really thought of it as a leftist place in the way that SF, Portland, or Seattle seem leftist. D.C. seems more politically similar to cities that are (or were recently) majority Black, like Atlanta, Baltimore, Detroit, and Philadelphia.

[dc_denizen]

Portland

[wwmiv]

Originally Posted by dc_denizen

Portland

Portland—
2004-2011: -0.40
2012-2016: -0.40
2017-2021: -0.53

[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.

[wwmiv]

Originally Posted by 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.

Washington, D.C. —
2004-2011: -0.55
2012-2016: -0.44
2017-2021: -0.47

[Qubert]

Originally Posted by 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.

DC's remaining Black neighborhoods are solidly democratic but not "left-wing". There's a difference (huge difference) between Dupont Circle left-wing politics and the 99% democratic voting ward 7 and 8 with still largley socially conservative views.

NYC has attracted a lot of uber-left creative/tech types over the last 15 or so years that didn't used to be here in abundance.

Also, Philadelphia deserves an honorable mention.

[Gantz]

Originally Posted by Qubert

NYC has attracted a lot of uber-left creative/tech types over the last 15 or so years that didn't used to be here in abundance.

They remind me of old school Italian mafia who were very outwardly religious while living the life that they were.
These people are outwardly left wing, but live and make money via ruthlessly capitalistic employment that will make a Republican blush, so they vote for Bernie Sanders to absolve their "sins". They use the voting booth as a Catholic confessional if you will.
They run an organic food co-op or sell clay cups on Etsy while paying for their $5,500/mo Williamsburg apartment from their Exxon/Northrop Grumman capital gains.

[jmecklenborg]

Originally Posted by Gantz

They remind me of old school Italian mafia who were very outwardly religious while living the life that they were.
These people are outwardly left wing, but live and make money via ruthlessly capitalistic employment that will make a Republican blush, so they vote for Bernie Sanders to absolve their "sins". They use the voting booth as a Catholic confessional if you will.
They run an organic food co-op or sell clay cups on Etsy while paying for their $5,500/mo Williamsburg apartment from their Exxon/Northrop Grumman capital gains.

Like Lou Reed once sang -

Some people - they go out dancing...
And those other people - they've gotta' work

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by Gantz

They remind me of old school Italian mafia who were very outwardly religious while living the life that they were.
These people are outwardly left wing, but live and make money via ruthlessly capitalistic employment that will make a Republican blush, so they vote for Bernie Sanders to absolve their "sins". They use the voting booth as a Catholic confessional if you will.
They run an organic food co-op or sell clay cups on Etsy while paying for their $5,500/mo Williamsburg apartment from their Exxon/Northrop Grumman capital gains.

This sounds like too much of Brownstone Brooklyn. Voting for ultra leftists who sound like a bizzaroland Marjorie Taylor Greene. Pontificating against "the man" from their $2 million+ apartment. Odd employment schemes that barely seem to cover monthly grocery costs. Wealthy parents in Connecticut or Palm Beach. Look at our new artisanal mayonnaise collective, ethically sourced by indigenous Guatemalan girl power. Portlandia with a trust fund. Oh, the humanity.

[jmecklenborg]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Pontificating against "the man" from their $2 million+ apartment. Odd employment schemes that barely seem to cover monthly grocery costs. Wealthy parents in Connecticut or Palm Beach. Look at our new artisanal mayonnaise collective, ethically sourced by indigenous Guatemalan girl power.

The term "slumming" has been around since at least the 1970s. It got truly out of control with the garage rock NYC hipster thing that started around 2003 and reached its apex around 2008. During the Obama years it drifted away from record collecting and toward crafts like woodworking, bicycle repair, and beer brewing. All of the frivolity disappeared when Trump was elected and that energy shifted instead toward unironic but nevertheless reckless political agitation (lots of flags and yard signs). Things have shifted a bit back toward woodworking/cooking in the Biden years.

[Comrade]

Berkeley.

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

[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.)

[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.

[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.