Politically speaking, Massachusetts is something of a conundrum. The Bay State is known for its deep-rooted liberalism but also for a degree of intolerance. For example, the Commonwealth was the first state to legalize same-sex marriage, but in many respects Boston is still scarred from the busing crisis. Sure, these occurred during two vastly different eras and yes, society has evolved substantially between. But also, consider that leftward leaning Massachusetts was helmed by four straight Republican governors prior to Deval Patrick.
Interesting news has emerged from Clarity Campaign Labs, a political analytics firm, and compiled into a map courtesy of the fine folks over at Business Insider. In essence, it gives a sense of which cities and towns nationwide are the most liberal and the most conservative per state.
In Massachusetts, Cambridge (ironically) is considered the most liberal city while the small Southwestern town of Granville (population 1,500, give or take a few) is the most conservative.
Before you start your usual griping, hear me out real quick. The data is based on just seven questions, which I realize are not an adequate representation of overall political leanings. Clarity also states blatantly on its website that they “provide advanced modeling and analytic services to the Democratic party and coordinated campaigns,” so there’s certainly a likelihood for a bit of bias here.
Still, some interesting patterns are worth noting. As is the case here in the Bay State, many of the cities considered most liberal are larger and offer exceptional higher-ed institutions. Look no further than each Burlington, Philadelphia, New York City, Ann Arbor, Omaha, Berkeley, Seattle and Portland (that’s both Maine and Oregon).
And, except for most of the smaller states and just a handful of those of the larger variety, there’s a lengthy distance between a state’s two polarizing municipalities.
Business Insider notes further that two of the questions posed by Clarity, pertaining to urban areas and church attendance, were not included in the score used to indicate whether a community was liberal or conservative.
Image via Business Insider/Andy Kiersz
