Is San Francisco really America's most liberal city?

[yuiyoshida]

San Francisco, California: The home of the Golden Gate Bridge, flower power and the Grateful Dead is also the most liberal city in the U.S. It's also consistently one of the most expensive places to live. Guess that's the price of leftist liberty. More than 852,000 residents (4.5 million in the metro area) call this city home, helping it earn a rank of -1 on the conservatism scale (the most liberal the scale goes).

We all assume San Francisco is the most liberal city in America. But is it really?

Well, wear your badge proudly, Bay Area. Because according to one study, we most definitely are.

In a report soon to be published in the American Political Science Review, Chris Warshaw of MIT and Chris Tausanovitch from UCLA, declared San Francisco the land of progressive dreams (or nightmares, depending on your persuasion).

The study used responses from 275,000 Americans surveyed on public policy to rank cities' political leanings.

Warshaw and Tausanovitch found that city governments do, in fact, respond to the "will of their citizens." Liberal cities tended to have more progressive tax policies. According to their policy preference study, San Francisco, Berkeley and Cambridge are among the most liberal cities in America while Mesa, Provo and Waco are among the most conservative.



http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Is-San-Francisco-really-America-s-most-liberal-6412585.php

and...were #2 on Glenn Becks most hated liberal city list! (According to a recent video.) Bill O'reilly thinks we're all pinheads here as well.

[arcane1]

1. It will be interesting to see if the political landscape changes with all the new money rolling in

And fewer people able to afford living here. ("Middle class starts at $80k, apparently).

[GummyBearz]

2. SF is a cool place

I prefer southern california though

My sister lives in SF, and I usually make at least one business trip there per year. Its great to visit, but it just doesn't meet my yearly sunshine quota

[closeupready]

3. To me, San Francisco is gayest, but the Northeastern cities have always been more liberal.

Boston and New York particularly, neither of which is as gay-friendly as San Francsico - at least, from a person-on-the-street view.