# Why Is DC So Overwhelmingly Democrat-Leaning **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 9, 2012, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-dc-so-overwhelmingly-democrat-leaning/640425 "2012-11-09T00:10:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2012, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-dc-so-overwhelmingly-democrat-leaning/640425/41 "2012-11-09T17:07:44Z")
Thank you all for your responses. They are greatly appreciated. > [@Dana\_Scully](#): > > You are laughably uninformed. > > The Distric of Columbia is a smart area–I don’t know how many acres–that is NOT a state or a city. > > Very likely the reason for so many Democrats in that area is that the President of the United States is a Democrat, so many government employees are members of that party. If S/he were Republican…well, figure it out. IF you can. That I am uninformed is not in question – one does not ask a question if they are informed. In other words, if I knew the answer, I would not need to ask the question. As to the snarkiness of your response, I will simply say this: I have three children. One is now in college and the younger two are in high school. Of course, they weren’t always of that age – there was a time when they were little and asked a thousand questions a day (well, not literally, but you know what I mean) about the world around them. And yes, some of their questions were silly. However, I always made it my policy with both my kids, with other kids that I teach (I do some private tutoring in various subjects) and with people in general to not denigrate them for asking questions, even if the question is silly or reveals a gross misunderstanding. Instead, I encourage them to continue asking questions. When a person has to feel afraid of asking a question because he’s worried about nastiness on the part of the respondent is the day that that person stops learning. Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2012, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-dc-so-overwhelmingly-democrat-leaning/640425/42 "2012-11-09T17:59:05Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I was joking. I assume the poster meant “small”, not “smart”. Not an obvious typo, but the only one that makes sense in context. Someone more cleverer than I could make some good jokes about elected officials. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2012, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-dc-so-overwhelmingly-democrat-leaning/640425/43 "2012-11-09T18:32:13Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > How did you find those stats about how the cities voted? I can only find info about the states, I’d like to see how the 50 or 100 largest cities voted for president. The [Huffington Post Electoral Map](http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/2012/results) will give you county-level results if you click on each state. Lots of big cities have the same borders as their containing counties, so you can get city-level results (or, in NYC, borough-level results) for large cities. And, as pointed out by **kenner116** , I did mean the Bronx was 91% for Obama. Queens was 78.8%. Sorry for the mistake. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2012, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-dc-so-overwhelmingly-democrat-leaning/640425/44 "2012-11-09T19:16:33Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Technically, **Dana Scully** is correct that the District of Columbia is not a city. But Washington _is_ a city, and has exactly the same borders as DC, so the one is often used as a shorthand for the other. OTOH, San Francisco is a city _and_ a county, as is Denver, IIRC. (These city/counties had votes of 84% and 76% resp. for Obama in 2008.) .. And no, these county=city cases are not considered violations of [the Axiom of Regularity](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axiom_of_regularity). 😉 ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2012, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-dc-so-overwhelmingly-democrat-leaning/640425/45 "2012-11-09T20:14:58Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > That statement is wrong, Kerry won 90% of the DC area in 2004 when Bush was the incumbent. If you are going to insult and condescend to people make sure you know what you are talking about. > > [2004 United States presidential election - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_2004#Results_by_state) > > My understanding of how it works is that large cities are full of non-whites and white liberals (white liberals attracted to the diversity, education and opportunity in a large city), all large cities (even salt lake city) tend to lean democratic due to this. DC, as Sven says is about 50% black with another 13% or so being latino or other races. But still, I don’t know why the rest of the whites in DC are so heavily liberal, the whites have to be as democratic as the blacks which outside of liberal circles is pretty rare (white liberals make up something like 12-15% of the electorate). I think another reason why cities tend to vote Democratic is that the population there sees more directly the benefits of government spending: They see the benefits of public transportation, public hospitals, etc. ---
**Author:** ![biink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@biink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/biink)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2012, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-dc-so-overwhelmingly-democrat-leaning/640425/46 "2012-11-09T22:41:30Z")
Obama won every county home to the top 20 universities (Harvard,MIT,Caltech)and most all other counties with universities ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2012, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-dc-so-overwhelmingly-democrat-leaning/640425/47 "2012-11-10T01:40:48Z")
> [@zev\_steinhardt](#): > > Thank you all for your responses. They are greatly appreciated. > … > When a person has to feel afraid of asking a question because he’s worried about nastiness on the part of the respondent is the day that that person stops learning. > > Zev Steinhardt Well said, **Zev**! **Dana Scully** ’s response was uncalled for and contrary to the spirit of this Board! ---
**Author:** ![Hershele\_Ostropoler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e47c2d/32.png) [@Hershele\_Ostropoler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hershele_Ostropoler)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2012, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-dc-so-overwhelmingly-democrat-leaning/640425/48 "2012-11-10T15:49:10Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > I think another reason why cities tend to vote Democratic is that the population there sees more directly the benefits of government spending: They see the benefits of public transportation, public hospitals, etc. There’s a chicken-and-egg question here; Democrats are generally the party of “we’re all in this together” while Republicans are more the party of self-reliance and “you leave me alone and I’ll leave you alone.” It’s easy to see why the Democratic attitude is fostered by city living, but it’s also easy to see why people inclined to that sort of attitude prefer high population density. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2012, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-dc-so-overwhelmingly-democrat-leaning/640425/49 "2012-11-10T18:12:13Z")
> [@Hershele\_Ostropoler](#): > > There’s a chicken-and-egg question here; Democrats are generally the party of “we’re all in this together” while Republicans are more the party of self-reliance and “you leave me alone and I’ll leave you alone.” The Republican party believes in leaving other people alone? I wish. This is the party whose [official platform](http://www.gop.com/2012-republican-platform_Renewing/) includes passages about limiting people’s freedom to make choices in their personal lives, like “the union of one man and one woman must be upheld as the national standard, a goal to stand for, encourage, and promote through laws governing marriage” and “Numerous studies have shown that abortion endangers the health and well-being of women, and we stand firmly against it”. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2012, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-dc-so-overwhelmingly-democrat-leaning/640425/50 "2012-11-10T18:25:12Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > The Republican party believes in leaving other people alone? I wish. This is the party whose [official platform](http://www.gop.com/2012-republican-platform_Renewing/) includes passages about limiting people’s freedom to make choices in their personal lives, like “the union of one man and one woman must be upheld as the national standard, a goal to stand for, encourage, and promote through laws governing marriage” and “Numerous studies have shown that abortion endangers the health and well-being of women, and we stand firmly against it”. **Moderator Note** **Lamia** , we don’t need a side discussion about party politics. If you want to pursue this, take it to Great Debates. This goes to everyone. Colibri General Questions Moderator [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-dc-so-overwhelmingly-democrat-leaning/640425.md?page=2)