The population of the top five cities (New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston and Philadelphia) is only 6% of the population of the United States and the population of the top 50 cities (going as obscurely far down as Arlington, TX) is only 19% of the population of the United States.
Suburbs and exurbs often vote Republican.
The margins generated by the nation’s largest states are hardly overwhelming in relation to the 122,000,000 votes cast nationally. Among the 11 most populous states, the highest margins were the following seven non-battleground states:
* Texas — 1,691,267 Republican
* New York — 1,192,436 Democratic
* Georgia — 544,634 Republican
* North Carolina — 426,778 Republican
* Illinois — 513,342 Democratic
* California — 1,023,560 Democratic
* New Jersey — 211,826 Democratic
Oklahoma (7 electoral votes) alone generated a margin of 455,000 “wasted” votes for Bush in 2004 — larger than the margin generated by the 9th and 10th largest states, namely New Jersey and North Carolina (each with 15 electoral votes). Utah (5 electoral votes) alone generated a margin of 385,000 “wasted” votes for Bush in 2004. 8 small western states, with less than a third of California’s population, provided Bush with a bigger margin (1,283,076) than California provided Kerry (1,235,659).
Since World War II, a shift of a few thousand votes in one or two states would have elected the second-place candidate in 4 of the 13 presidential elections. Near misses are now frequently common. There have been 6 consecutive non-landslide presidential elections. A shift of 60,000 votes in Ohio in 2004 would have defeated President Bush despite his nationwide lead of over 3 Million votes.
Wow, talk about cherry-picking your stats.
1. The conversation is on MSMAs, not cities. A throw-away line like “suburbs often vote Republican” is not a stat.
2. It’s not 122 Million votes we’re talking about, it’s 50.1% of that.
3. We’re talking about a different kind of campaigning by socialists in the future, one which polarizes large urban (and suburban) Rust Belt areas and Left Coast whackos; Campaigning that is highly concentrated and aims for very large majorities.
4. Stats turned to view properly: One leftist state, California, had enough extra Dem votes to counter the effect of 8 small western conservative states. Another leftist state, New York, had enough extra Dem votes to cancel two large conservatives states, North Carolina and Georgia. The “red” state Texas’ extra conservative vote is easily canceled by “blue” large majorities in Illinois and New Jersey. How long does this tilt have to go on for you to understand how targeted campaigning can win the popular vote for you?