Rich-Poor Gap Widest in Republican-Leaning States, Census Shows [View all]

Source: Bloomberg via Yahoo

"The gap between the rich and poor in the U.S. is concentrated most heavily across a large swath of the South and was least apparent in the Midwest, according to a Census Bureau report released yesterday.

Six of the 10 counties with the highest income disparity were in Texas, Louisiana, Georgia and South Carolina, all states with Republican governors that usually back the party's presidential candidates.

The report, covering the years 2006-2010, highlights the paradox of the wealth gap as a political issue between voters in so-called red states that tend to vote Republican and blue states that lean Democratic. A 2007 study found that while inequality is more evident in poor states such as Mississippi, voters there largely favor Republican candidates. In wealthier states, they're more likely to back the other major party.

"In a Democratic state like New York, rich people are a little more conservative than the poor people, but they're socially liberal," Andrew Gelman, a Columbia University political scientist and statistician who led that study, said in a telephone interview. "In a state like Texas, the rich aren't really that conflicted."

much more.




Read more: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/rich-poor-gap-widest-republican-050015465.html

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Yep - voting against their best interests. It's what Republicans often do!