What is the most left-wing city in America?

[wwmiv]

Originally Posted by SIGSEGV

Honolulu?

Honolulu—
2004-2011: -0.14
2012-2016: -0.16
2017-2021: -0.27

[wwmiv]

Originally Posted by 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.

South Fulton—
2004-2011: data missing
2012-2016: -0.18
2017-2021: -0.23

[wwmiv]

Originally Posted by Chef

The most left wing city council Minneapolis has ever had was also the one that upzoned the entire city. There was a council member from the Green party, he supported it too. Most of the opposition came from the center-left liberal rich parts of the city.

Minneapolis—
2004-2011: -0.44
2012-2016: -0.47
2017-2021: -0.54

[Yuri]

Originally Posted by lio45

The Anglo-Liberal societies are actually the ones that treat LGBT and nonwhites the best on this planet.

It’s not perfect, but everywhere else is worse.

Not because the local Right, but due movements from the Left. Regarding your proclaimed superiority, there are massive issues regarding homophobia, classism and racism in such societies.

In fact, this very post of yours the example of it: you’re completely convinced you’re superior. It’s today’s form of racism. That’s the same mindset British imperialists in their fancy clubs in Asia and else possessed.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by Yuri

Not because the local Right, but due movements from the Left. Regarding your proclaimed superiority, there are massive issues regarding homophobia, classism and racism in such societies.

In fact, this very post of yours the example of it: you’re completely convinced you’re superior. It’s today’s form of racism. That’s the same mindset British imperialists in their fancy clubs in Asia and else possessed.

“I’m completely convinced I’m superior”?!?!? I’m not from an Anglo-Liberal society, and if you look at my recent posts, you’ll know that I’ve been criticizing the one of those that I’m most familiar with for being too tolerant of intolerance and too allergic to so-called “social engineering”.

(Even if I were from such a society, I wouldn’t take the credit, it’s not my accomplishment at all. Would be akin to a young burger-flipping New Yorker taking credit for his city having the tallest skyscrapers. That’s sooo not me.)

“Most liberal, factually” doesn’t mean “optimal, IMO”.

[wwmiv]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

I would define being a "liberal" city as having cultures of: 1) high diversity tolerance (ethnic and social), 2) strong protection of human rights, and 3) strong pro-urban growth policies. This is how I'd generally rank the principal city of the 30 largest metros from most "liberal" to least "liberal" based on this criteria:

[omit]

SF seems to rank the highest on all three. NYC ranks high on diversity tolerance and very high on pro-urban policies, but is average to poor on protection of human rights, particularly regarding the relationship between law enforcement and the community. Much of this is based on my perception of places through media.

Los Angeles—
2004-2011: -0.25
2012-2016: -0.28
2017-2021: -0.35

Denver—
2004-2011: -0.25
2012-2016: -0.20
2017-2021: -0.32

Chicago—
2004-2011: -0.33
2012-2016: -0.32
2017-2021: -0.36

Philadelphia—
2004-2011: -0.26
2012-2016: -0.24
2017-2021: -0.33

Detroit—
2004-2011: -0.38
2012-2016: -0.19
2017-2021: -0.24

Baltimore—
2004-2011: -0.36
2012-2016: -0.32
2017-2021: -0.34

Pittsburgh—
2004-2011: -0.28
2012-2016: -0.21
2017-2021: -0.30

St. Louis—
2004-2011: -0.30
2012-2016: -0.23
2017-2021: -0.31

San Diego—
2004-2011: -0.15
2012-2016: -0.17
2017-2021: -0.27

Atlanta—
2004-2011: -0.29
2012-2016: -0.24
2017-2021: -0.31

Miami—
2004-2011: -0.30
2012-2016: -0.25
2017-2021: -0.23

Fort Lauderdale—
2004-2011: -0.29
2012-2016: -0.26
2017-2021: -0.20

West Palm Beach—
2004-2011: -0.24
2012-2016: -0.21
2017-2021: -0.13

Las Vegas—
2004-2011: -0.02
2012-2016: -0.02
2017-2021: -0.07

Charlotte —
2004-2011: -0.13
2012-2016: -0.10
2017-2021: -0.17

Orlando—
2004-2011: -0.13
2012-2016: -0.09
2017-2021: -0.10

Tampa—
2004-2011: -0.08
2012-2016: -0.11
2017-2021: -0.14

St Petersburg—
2004-2011: -0.19
2012-2016: -0.11
2017-2021: -0.12

Sacramento—
2004-2011: -0.16
2012-2016: -0.20
2017-2021: -0.29

Cincinnati—
2004-2011: -0.19
2012-2016: -0.19
2017-2021: -0.25

Phoenix—
2004-2011: 0.00
2012-2016: -0.00
2017-2021: -0.08

[Docere]

What is meant by "pro-urban policies"?

[sopas ej]

Originally Posted by Busy Bee

You're response does not change the fact that the member was demanding an affordability percentage higher than what the developer found financially feasible. Whether or not the member was going to ever approve or what her motivations are is conjecture.

Right?? It wasn't the "most left-wing" council-member that killed the project, it was the developer that killed it because the affordable housing percentage would have eaten into their profits.

Originally Posted by Chef

The most left wing city council Minneapolis has ever had was also the one that upzoned the entire city. There was a council member from the Green party, he supported it too. Most of the opposition came from the center-left liberal rich parts of the city.

Well there you go. Again, true leftists want availability for all.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by Docere

What is meant by "pro-urban policies"?

Investment in mass transit, neighborhoods filled with densely built multi-tenant housing, etc.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by sopas ej

Right?? It wasn't the "most left-wing" council-member that killed the project, it was the developer that killed it because the affordable housing percentage would have eaten into their profits.

Wrong, the City Councilmember killed it. The developer cannot build something that doesn't exist, which was the Councilmember's demand. "Make a unicorn" isn't a policy stance, it's a political stance.

The Councilmember had no intention of approving a project under any circumstances. Why would she? Her whole narrative is "evil developers and gentrifiers are invading the neighborhood." Thankfully, she'll be voted out shortly, and then much-needed affordable housing can be built.

Totally different subject, but she's a fervent Putin supporter too, and blames Ukraine for the Russian invasion. Vile lady.

[wwmiv]

Can we actually discuss the data rather than argue about what leftist means to which specific person? The benefit of polling people in the aggregate is that it smooths out those disparate opinions and ALL of the stuff I have been posting that all of you are ignoring are actual datapoints that help to answer these questions.

[Chef]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

I would define being a "liberal" city as having cultures of: 1) high diversity tolerance (ethnic and social), 2) strong protection of human rights, and 3) strong pro-urban growth policies.

I think this definition shows the issues with modern American liberalism. Historically the left has primarily been interested in the economic arrangements in society and how that affects the power dynamics between the classes. The entire point of the progressive reforms of the turn of the 20th century and the New Deal was to curb the power the wealthy had over society and workers and then to improve the material conditions of the lower classes of society. That, and fighting Jim Crow were the two main projects of the left in America prior to the 1970s. Modern liberalism abandoned the economic left for neoliberalism in the '80s, but the process wasn't even throughout the country or total. So now we have cities that vote heavily Democratic but where a large portion of that electorate supports the economic status quo because they benefit from it. Swathes of San Francisco and New York are both poster children for this phenomenon. It is a question of lifestyle and identitarian liberalism vs economic leftism. Some cities have both, in some cities one is more predominant than the other.

[Docere]

Originally Posted by Chef

I think this definition shows the issues with modern American liberalism. Historically the left has primarily been interested in the economic arrangements in society and how that affects the power dynamics between the classes. The entire point of the progressive reforms of the turn of the 20th century and the New Deal was to curb the power the wealthy had over society and workers and then to improve the material conditions of the lower classes of society. That, and fighting Jim Crow were the two main projects of the left in America prior to the 1970s. Modern liberalism abandoned the economic left for neoliberalism in the '80s, but the process wasn't even throughout the country or total. So now we have cities that vote heavily Democratic but where a large portion of that electorate supports the economic status quo because they benefit from it. Swathes of San Francisco and New York are both poster children for this phenomenon. It is a question of lifestyle and identitarian liberalism vs economic leftism. Some cities have both, in some cities one is more predominant than the other.

Well said. And hard data is hard to come by, because all these currents vote under the Democratic Party banner.

[Chef]

Originally Posted by wwmiv

Can we actually discuss the data rather than argue about what leftist means to which specific person? The benefit of polling people in the aggregate is that it smooths out those disparate opinions and ALL of the stuff I have been posting that all of you are ignoring are actual datapoints that help to answer these questions.

I think it is impossible to do that because data like this is subjective. Even researchers who compose polls are operating from a starting point of what they consider left-wing. Was Moscow in the '20s more left wing than Seattle today? In some ways yes, in some ways no.

[wwmiv]

Originally Posted by Docere

Well said. And hard data is hard to come by, because all these currents vote under the Democratic Party banner.

And yet here is someone trained in political science giving you data adequate to answer the question. Data that doesn’t rely on two party vote shares, which - as you and others have presciently noted - are not adequate to the job.

[wwmiv]

Originally Posted by Chef

I think it is impossible to do that because data like this is subjective. Even researchers who compose polls are operating from a starting point of what they consider left-wing. Was Moscow in the '20s more left wing than Seattle today? In some ways yes, in some ways no.

Impossible or simply difficult? I would encourage you to go read some of Tausanovitch’s work and actually grapple with it and what it says (most of which you’d probably agree with) rather than dismiss it out of hand from sheer and utter laziness and perhaps even out of contempt of the academy.

As to your example: the OP question was asking about modern American cities, which operate in a defined ideological context that stands distinct from Moscow in the ‘20s. You don’t necessarily even need to grapple with foreign ideological frameworks to answer the question “which American city is most left?” — you just need to know American cities’ relative positions and how Americans perceive the ideology of policy proposals.

[Docere]

2016 primary result by neighborhood. Quite fittingly, the Upper East Side was Hillary's best neighborhood and Greenpoint was Bernie's best neighborhood.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/....7100/-73.9800

Greenpoint and UES probably have a fairly similar D share (85%+). But if you use Sanders vote as a proxy and a multiply that percentage by D vote, you'd get say, 55% left-wing in Greenpoint but 17% left-wing in UES.

Of course this is Democratic voters. Some areas where Bernie won (Staten Island, Ridgewood) have more registered Republicans. For example if Southern Staten Island voted 25% D, you'd have 14% left-wing there.

[Docere]

Originally Posted by wwmiv

And yet here is someone trained in political science giving you data adequate to answer the question. Data that doesn’t rely on two party vote shares, which - as you and others have presciently noted - are not adequate to the job.

Yes, it's helpful.

[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.