I assumed it was conservatives doing the moving.
They may or may not be conservatives, but I’d say 99% of them are taxpayers.
It's both. I'm in the people's republic of MA. Lieberals have moved out and infected lower NH - like Nashua.
OTOH, back here in MA, we are losing Conservatives who've had enough. These folks are a plus to any red state that gets them. And, a very big net MINUS to those of us remaining in MA, as it gets harder to keep the small delegation of R's in the legislature, keep a nominal 'R' honest to the cause, and gets lonelier in our respective towns for want of fellow Conservatives.
The people leaving Rust Belt cities are people who want to work, and work in the private sector, not people on welfare. On that criteria, they are approachable on politics.
The problem is that (at least in GA, and from what I see in the mountains of Cruz stuff I get in TX also) Republicans / Conservatives are not approaching the refugees and asking them to think about why there are no jobs in Rust Belt cities and why there are jobs in Red States.
Heritage, AFP, CATO, TeaParty, Breitbart, Townhall, and all the media linked here on FR... they all target the base, the choir. Nobody on our side is reaching to beyond our base.
When I lived in Louisiana, I ran into a Yankee transplant from Ohio. She started on a rant about how "You People" in LA are so racist, and why don't you just get along with black people, why do you have to hate, blah, blah, blah. I stared at her for a second and then my brain actually worked enough to dredge up two words which I said at her before turning and walking away: Marge Schott.
That's because you (incorrectly) believe that liberals like the disastrous results of their moronic policies any more than conservatives do. They don't, but they never seem to be able to make the connection between their politics and the decline of everything around them...