Can someone explain the "Southern Blue Belt"?

[Taverner]

What cities are in that belt of blue that goes right through the middle of the Southeast?

[Jacobin]

1. African American rural counties/parishes

Thank god for them.

[Yupster]

5. Correct answer

the blue belt mimics the plantations of "King Cotton," 150 years ago along the Mississippi and in the deep south. African-American populations are still concentrated there 150 years later.

[prodigal_green]

2. what a bizarre map

square miles won? Who cares? That reminds me of when Reagan used to make such a big deal out of Russia (actually, the Soviet Union, but Republicans were never much for accuracy) spanned 12 time zones. Unless the earth turned to golems, I never got how that was to their advantage...after all, it is just more real estate to defend.

I guess the point here is to show that cities vote Democrat and rural folks vote Republican. It makes dumb conservatives feel better because "more" of the country is red. I bet if you looked at a nightime aerial or satellite photo, the blue would correspond to the white areas.

Anyway, I don't have an answer to your question, but I would assume they are all large cities in the south.

On edit: while I was being so wordy, Poster #1 provided the answer...I guess I'm full of crap in the above paragraph. :crazy:

[weare138]

3. The Muddy...

It seems to loosely follow the Mississippi River. Any connection?

[Warpy]

8. Boortz was the first to run this map

...trying to prove the overwhelming support Idiot had in the country as a whole.

I wasn't too polite to point out to wingnuts that dirt don't vote, unless it's sitting on the USSC.

[AndyHammond1970]

4. Hey I live in that Blue Belt.

The one thru central Alabama.
Thanks good some of us are voting the right way!

[LizW]

9. Bless the Blue Belt!

Thank goodness for it, and those couple of renegade counties in north Alabama. :thumbsup:

[Rowdyboy]

6. Certainly in the Mississippi/Louisianna/Arkansas/Tennessee

area its primarily minority voters.

[seabeyond]

7. there is not a splatter of blue

in the little ole panhandle i live. not fair, not fair and no surprise.

[yardwork]

10. It's not that simple

Some of the majority-Black counties voted Democratic, but some did not. There are still problems with equal access to voting booths for minorities, especially in the south. We saw that in Florida.

Also, in the south many African-Americans are quite conservative on social issues.

There are also majority-Anglo counties in blue on that map. These are often major cities or college/university communities.

I agree with the above post that says this map is extremely misleading. Those huge tracts of red in the west are mostly sparsely populated counties covering large geographic areas. This map suggests that Republicans have a huge majority in the U.S. and that is simply not true.

Gore won the election by more than 500,000 votes.

[Lex]

12. I agree yardwork

It's a mixture of counties with large cities or metropolitan areas, some with university/college towns, and perhaps some (but certainly not all) with a large African American demographic.

To chalk it up to just being the African American influence it just too simplistic.

Look at the counties with a university/college or a large metro area plus those with a large African American demographic.

That's your Southern Blue Belt.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

11. The larger cities and often University Towns tend to vote Dem.

In Florida: the Dem areas are Tampa, Miami, Palm Beach, Ft. Lauderdale. It's the same up North: In Michigan: Detroit and Ann Arbor. In Illinois: Chicago.