The INDsider -> Walter Pierce MON, AUG 3 9:42AM by Walter Pierce

Say what? La. leaning blue?

According to a new Gallup party-identification poll, 47 percent of Louisiana residents identify themselves as either Democrat or leaning Democrat versus 41 percent for Republicans. It's a finding that doesn't seem to square with reality, at least not at the polls. Louisiana, after all, is about as red as they come: Our governor is Republican; half of our senators are GOP; six out of seven of our U.S. representatives are Republican; and Louisiana favored John McCain over Barack Obama by nearly 20 percentage points last November.

Gallup offers no state-specific analysis of the data, which comprises a tracking poll covering the first six months of 2009. Is it a shift in political sentiment in the Bayou State, or evidence that Democratic voters are just less likely than their Republican counterparts to go to the polls and vote? Is there another explanation for the GOP’s electoral dominance in Louisiana in recent years?

According to Gallup, the findings are essentially the same as the 2008 party-identification poll, with one exception: "Since Obama was inaugurated, not much has changed in the political party landscape at the state level — the Democratic Party continues to hold a solid advantage in party identification in most states and in the nation as a whole. While the size of the Democratic advantage at the national level shrunk in recent months, this has been due to an increase in independent identification rather than an increase in Republican support."

The Gallup poll doesn’t bode well for Republicans nationally: Only six states — Alabama, Alaska, Idaho, Mississippi, Wyoming and Utah — have a majority of residents who identify themselves as Republican or leaning Republican, with Utah being the reddest (53 percent Republican - 30 percent Democrat). The most heavily leaning Democratic states are clustered in the northeast and Atlantic seaboard: Washington, D.C., is the bluest with a 77-12 Democratic majority, followed by tried and blue Massachusetts (60-26).

Overall, according to Gallup, 30 states are solidly Democratic with eight others leaning left; four states are listed as solidly Republican with one leaning right.


Walter Pierce
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written by justwandering , August 03, 2009 - 04:21 pm
Why is this news? Nothing has changed. Democrats have long been the majority party in LA. However, what is news is that party aside, Louisiana is a politically conservative state. Do you know something to the contrary? Do you see a rising philosophical change to a more liberal stance. I don't.
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written by BC , August 03, 2009 - 04:31 pm
poor people been votin' fo democrats fo fifty years and dey still po'

--sir charles barkley
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written by Veefox , August 03, 2009 - 05:00 pm
This information was taken from the Secretary of State Website:

7/6/08 Democrat: 1,525,915 Republican: 722420 Independent: 639010

7/7/09 Democrat: 1,513,644 Republican: 742032 Independent: 647670

/- Democrat -12,271 Repub: 19,612 Ind: 8,630

I am not sure where they received their information. Numbers speak for themselves. This state is NOT turning Blue.
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written by ragin_cajun , August 03, 2009 - 06:23 pm
What does it matter? If a statist changes parties from Democrat to Republican and back again, so what? How many Republican politicians in Louisiana do you hear saying it's time to cut government spending? Time to reduce the size of government? At any level?
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written by Andrew Bellard , August 03, 2009 - 08:56 pm
This article makes one huge conclusion which negates its finding: it assumes that everyone votes along party lines. These numbers nationwide have surely been relativelt solid over the last two decades. Elections are won by attractive candidates because people vote for the best person, not the party (for the most part). in essence, there have always been more Democrats on the national and state levels, but that doesnt mean that they all vote for Democrats or that they even all vote. In order for this article to be accurate, 100% of the population would have to vote in every election, and every single person would have to vote along party lines.
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written by northsidian , August 04, 2009 - 12:06 am
they are all the same. help themselves and their friends!! democrat or republican. they will try to double or triple (as lafayette's great conservative senator mike michot did) their pay whenever they get the chance. they all said that they would not be anyone left. none of them resigned. does that tell you dumb ***** something!!
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written by Minnie Heyes , August 04, 2009 - 02:00 am
All is not well at the Louisiana Democratic Party. And is no where to be found. Not standing up for our President. Not working with candidates to develop a strategy to take Vitter’s seat. Not working with legislators and local govern- ment leaders to deal with the upcoming reapportionment of political districts after the 2010 Census. The party’s absence is directly attributable to the person who sits as chairman, Christopher Whittington. The actions of the executive director Whittington hired as part of his re-election bid has made the party the target of at least two lawsuits. The highly regarded communications director left shortly after the executive director did. The entire staff of the party consists of two people, neither of which has any executive power. They are merely at the party’s Government Street headquarters in Baton Rouge to turn the lights on and off, answer the phone and get the mail.
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written by Citizen K , August 04, 2009 - 04:07 am
Louisiana is majority registered as Democrat out of tradition ever since pre-Civil War. This is especially true after the Reconstruction Era. However, it has traditionally voted VERY conservative outside of New Orleans. New Orleans could easily flip if the GOP started buying voters with "expense" money there.
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written by Stranded in a sea of red , August 07, 2009 - 09:44 pm
Well its understandable how any area in the nation could be leaning left at this point. The GOP have no real agenda but obstruction.
Remember during the height of the Bush fiasco, when if you questioned the president or his policies you were instantly labeled un-American?
Where is the outrage now? I guess it proves that Dems are more tollerant of our basic freedom of speach rights.
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written by Myrick6 , August 20, 2009 - 05:32 pm
When I was little, my grandpa told me that if it weren't for the Democrats in Louisiana, his kids, my dad, would not have been able to attend school. He said he had little education because he was needed on the farm and his family couldn't afford the books. He told me he was most grateful that his 9 children could get an education and so he would always be a Democrat. Later,in the mid 1970s, when he had to use "Charity Hospital" in Lafayette, he again told me Louisiana was lucky to have politicians who cared about the poor people. I've always remembered him talking politics with me when I was too young to understand much of what he said. I could hardly wait to be old enough to vote. My personal experience has been that the Dems I've known were more inclusive, more tolerant, and more giving than the Repubs I've known. Call it bad luck, but the Repubs I've known were some of the most selfish bas***ds I've ever met. Oh, and by the way, my mom and dad, and even some grandparents, never prayed in school one single time. That was for church and home they've said.
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written by Soop , August 24, 2009 - 01:13 pm
The biggest lie in politics is that liberals are more tolerant than conservative counterparts. The liberals routinely try to shut down Rush Limbaugh, FoxNews and anyone who speaks against President Obama. They don't want to hear any opposing view except for liberal orthodoxy.

Have conservatives been trying to shut down MSNBC or any of the other liberal news media outlets? I never even heard of a single time that the government even tried to shut down anti-Bush protests during his Presidency and you KNOW that would have made front page news if it had happened. And conservatives didn't shut down Air America, it was that no one was listening.

Looking for a truly tolerant liberal (and not just one who will repeatedly tell you how tolerant they are)? You might as well be looking for unicorns, Bigfoot and all those rights you mysteriously lost during the Bush years.

All the best,

Soop
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