In "The Liberal Invasion of Red State America," author Kristin B. Tate explains why blue state migrants settling in red states are significantly changing voting patterns that could bring down the curtain on the Republican Party.
In the 21st century, millions of people have moved from the deep blue states of Connecticut, Illinois, New Jersey, and New York to the red states of Florida, Arizona, Texas, and North Carolina.
Between 2010 and 2017, Connecticut’s net population loss due to migration was 153,276 people (-4.28%), Illinois was down 642,821 (-5.01%), New Jersey dropped 395,160 (-4.49%) and New York lost 1,022,071 (-5.27%).
Why have people been leaving blue states?
High taxes, high cost of living, high-priced housing, awful schools that are no longer academic-achievement oriented, nanny state regulations, few working-class jobs, excessive government spending on welfare and Medicaid, and declining quality of life.
Take for example the state of Connecticut. There was a time when the Nutmeg State had a terrific business climate and no state income tax.
But in the late 1980s, as voters moved further to the left and government spending ballooned, Connecticut imposed an income tax.
Between 1991 and 2014, Tate notes that "spending increased 71 percent faster than inflation. The state increased its spending on debt service, pensions, and employee health care by an astonishing 174 percent."
At the same time, Connecticut bureaucrats also jacked up spending on welfare programs by 70%.
And while the average income of the person who pays the tab for the state’s government’s largesse is $52,000, the average state employee’s salary is $73,000.
To pay for its out-of-control spending, Connecticut has raised the income tax from the 1991 flat-rate of 4.5 percent to approximately 7 percent for top-earners.
The corporate tax rate is an incredible 8.25 percent.
Connecticut’s tax and spend policies, Tate observes, "chased out the corporations that had flocked to the state in earlier years."
The two largest employers to say "adios" were General Electric and Aetna insurance.
Every year, Connecticut, like other deep blue states losing population, has lost billions in adjusted gross income. In 2018, Connecticut’s net outflow of adjusted gross income was $1.2 billion. In New York the loss was $9.8 billion, in New Jersey $3.2 billion, and in Illinois $5.6 billion.
Which states are benefitting from the mass exodus? Economically prosperous red states.
In 2018, the net inflow of adjusted gross income reported in 2018 was $16.5 billion in Florida, Arizona $3.5 billion, Texas $3.5 billion, and North Carolina $3 billion.
However, these red states are facing a political crisis that, overtime, could wreck their business-friendly reputations.
The problem: many of those leaving deep blue states for greener economic pastures, have not left their liberal ideology behind.
These domestic migrants, "once they arrive in red states, proudly vote for the same policies they fled."
This is most evident in Texas, the most populous state in the nation.
In the past decade, census figures have indicated that "the top states losing residents to the Lone Star State each year have consistently been California, Illinois and New York" — the most liberal states in the nation.
Between 2011 and 2016, 391 thousand Californians moved to Texas, 142 thousand from Illinois, and 126 thousand from New York.
As a result of this blue state migration to Texas, Tate writes "Democratic voters have made up a significantly larger portion of total ballots cast. Between 2010 and 2018, Democratic voters increased 50 percent while Republican votes increased by just 10 percent."
This phenomenon helps explain why a Democratic political lightweight like Robert Francis "Beto" O’Rourke came within 3 percent points of toppling Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, in 2018.
Republicans must wake up to the fact that blue state refugees are turning reliably GOP states into purple swing states.
To stem the leftist tide, Kristin Tate strongly recommends Republicans reach out to America’s 73 million millennials (those born between 1982 and 1996) who will shortly outnumber baby boomers.
"Millennials may be a different breed," she argues, "but they are likely to follow in the footsteps of previous generations as twenty-two-year-old baristas and out-of-work graphic designers become adults with the full trappings of engaged citizens."
Ditto, first-generation Hispanics working long hours to achieve middle class. They too, like millions of early 20th century Eastern European and Italian immigrants — who later left the Democratic Party that frowned upon their working-class cultural and religious beliefs to become Reagan supporters — could, could also "self-integrate into the wider political center and right."
Hopefully, GOP leaders read Kristin Tate’s "The Liberal Invasion of Red State America" and heed her advice before they lose their edge in the electoral college permanently and go the way of the 19th century Whig Party.
George J. Marlin, a former executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, is the author of "The American Catholic Voter: Two Hundred Years of Political Impact," and "Christian Persecutions in the Middle East: A 21st Century Tragedy." He is chairman of Aid to the Church in Need-USA. Mr. Marlin also writes for TheCatholicThing.org and the Long Island Business News. To read more George J. Marlin — Click Here Now.
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