Forgive me if this has been asked: Which city is more liberal, and which has more transplants: Columbia or Greenville? (Spartanburg: statistics, place)
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I just read all 8 pages of this thread, and find it interesting that people are judging the 3 biggest cities in SC on voting patterns. While they tend to be a start in judging an area, keep in mind that who a city or metro votes for has almost nothing to do with the experience one will have there.
Since I am from Greenville, and this is a Columbia forum, I will use Charleston as an example. It voted slightly in favor of Obama during the last election, but spend any time in Charleston and you will see that Charleston feels like a very conservative city - because it IS. I don't need to look at voting records to realize the Old South vibe in Charleston - Lowcountry accents, seersucker suits, lazy days on the beach, plantations-turned-tourist-attractions, etc. It tends to be slower and laid back compared to Columbia and Greenville, perhaps because it is more tourist-oriented than business-oriented. Nowhere else in SC (and perhaps even in the South) do you get such a high degree of Southern pride. There's nothing wrong with that, but if you move to Charleston expecting a non-conservative area simply based on voting patterns you will be sorely disappointed.
Columbia, Charleston, and Greenville are all fine cities, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Each one is a growing, mid-sized city. If someone is interested in learning more, I would recommend that they move beyond the statistical data and visit for themselves. Spend plenty of time there, talking to people, seeing how they act, evaluating how happy they seem to be. That will give you a much better handle on an area than putting people in a category of conservative or liberal.
I dont necessarily disagree with what you are saying.. but isnt Charleston being overrun by..excuse the term "Yankees" among other groups? Read throughout these forums and even have seen in my own visits that the area and the Coast in general is becoming filled with transplants from someplace else? Would that not influence voting patterns a bit?
I dont necessarily disagree with what you are saying.. but isnt Charleston being overrun by..excuse the term "Yankees" among other groups? Read throughout these forums and even have seen in my own visits that the area and the Coast in general is becoming filled with transplants from someplace else? Would that not influence voting patterns a bit?
I have lived in Charleston for the last four years, and while I do not claim to be an expert on the city and its people, I can say that it seems very Southern to me. I'm sure there have been people from the North who have moved to Charleston due to its relative affordability for coastal living. But I don't think the number of Northerners who have purchased homes there is any more significant than those who have moved to Columbia or Greenville to retire or because of their work.
Charlestonians do tend to complain a lot about "Yankees" moving in. Based on some of their comments, you are left with the impression that it is exclusively Northerners there, many of whom don't even live in those expensive houses they purchased. Based on my experience, this is not even close to accurate. Rather, I believe that transplants in Charleston stand out more, because it is such an historic city that prides itself on Old South charm.
Richland went for Obama because of the much higher black population in Richland. This says nothing about being being a true liberal, it just shows the votes were along racial lines.
There is no true liberal city in South Carolina.
There may be no true liberal cities, but there are plenty of liberal - Thank you very much. I would think Columbia would be pretty liberal. The Irmo area has many transplants living there so there are many perspectives represented in Irmo. Best of luck!
"Forgive me if this has been asked: Which city is more liberal, and which has more transplants: Columbia or Greenville?"
I know you hate the comparisons, but I'm curious. Thanks:0
"Forgive me if this has been asked: Which city is more liberal, and which has more transplants: Columbia or Greenville?"
You are looking for a breath of fresh air while your ship is under the water and passing a frigid cold area like the "south".
Let me put it this way: You can't find a city in the south as liberal because there are strong presence of conservative ideas through churches in every block of neighborhood. Instead, you have to look for "educated neighborhoods, high tech or university oriented neighborhood" etc. For example, if you can find a neighborhood where a lot of international people (like professors in USC or something like that) live, then you can think of an area where people are used to be little more tolerant. This is just an example and does not imply that this is the way to find a liberal place. Also, in avery liberal area may not helpful like in certain neighborhood you will find strong support for democrats but you really may not like there.
There are areas in SC where people have never seen or thought of outside the box. So finding a "liberal" area is difficult.
The best thing as again, look for "educational demographic" instead of "political"/"racial" or something else. Thats where your best bet.
We in Columbia have values, too. We value tolerance. We value religious freedom and a government which is not partisan to any religion. We value intellectual curiosity and competence over ideology.
While Greenville is conservative, more and more people have been moving there from out of state. It is those emigrants -- many brought in by multinational companies such as BMW and Michelin -- who have transformed Greenville into a much more cosmopolitan city. The old Greenville families, if they had their way, would have discouraged all the great resaurants featuring oriental and continental cuisines.
Thirty years ago you could not buy a bagel downtown. In fact, downtown was an urban wasteland and people only looked to the malls for entertainment, dining and shopping.
The times, they are a-changin'. You don't need to be a weatherman to see which way the wind blows.
Boise is not a liberal city by any stretch and I'd be willing to bet that Columbia is at least as liberal as Charlottesville. I told the OP that Columbia is not liberal by NYC standards, but that it is for South Carolina.
Agreed...it's an amazing stretch to put Seattle, Portland, and Boise in the same category.
Some of you guys act like it's a bad thing our cities are conservative. There's nothing wrong with that. If you don't like the conservative way of life here than you can move. Plain and simple. I am a liberal democrat myself and I like living here even if I might be in the minority. Greenville is ranked as one of the top 15 conservative areas in the country. Columbia is more liberal. We can argue back and forth about it all day and night but that is the truth.
I just want to know I can live someplace where I can disagree with the "political majority" and still be cordial with them. In many "conservative" areas, if you don't believe exactly as the "sheep" do, you are an outcast.
That is ridiculous in this day and age, but I'm seeing it more and more all over the country.
A friend in PA I've known for 40 yrs. insisted on knowing my political views against my wishes (she's gotten very passionate about the tea party movement), and has now cut off contact with me because my views don't match hers. This is the sad state of America, and I want to know there are still places where people DON'T choose their friends strictly on their political similarities.
I just want to know I can live someplace where I can disagree with the "political majority" and still be cordial with them. In many "conservative" areas, if you don't believe exactly as the "sheep" do, you are an outcast.
That is ridiculous in this day and age, but I'm seeing it more and more all over the country.
A friend in PA I've known for 40 yrs. insisted on knowing my political views against my wishes (she's gotten very passionate about the tea party movement), and has now cut off contact with me because my views don't match hers. This is the sad state of America, and I want to know there are still places where people DON'T choose their friends strictly on their political similarities.
Melanie
I'm a black single father, with mixed children, living in Simpsonville(suburb) which is very conservative, more so than Greenville. We have no problems and our community is close nit, mostly conservative. Its very nice. But of course Columbia is more liberal.
A friend in PA I've known for 40 yrs. insisted on knowing my political views against my wishes (she's gotten very passionate about the tea party movement), and has now cut off contact with me because my views don't match hers.
Couldn't have been much of a friend to begin with.
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It voted slightly in favor of Obama during the last election, but spend any time in Charleston and you will see that Charleston feels like a very conservative city - because it IS. I don't need to look at voting records to realize the Old South vibe in Charleston - Lowcountry accents, seersucker suits, lazy days on the beach, plantations-turned-tourist-attractions, etc. It tends to be slower and laid back compared to Columbia and Greenville, perhaps because it is more tourist-oriented than business-oriented. Nowhere else in SC (and perhaps even in the South) do you get such a high degree of Southern pride. There's nothing wrong with that, but if you move to Charleston expecting a non-conservative area simply based on voting patterns you will be sorely disappointed.
Political differences
