Kansas
6 votes
Bush - 25 points
The last time this state voted Democratic....
... Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King won the Nobel Peace Prize.
Race
- Overwhelmingly white
Nothing to report here.
Age
All groups - Bush
His most commanding victory was among those aged 30-44. His
worst performances were among the youngest and oldest voters.
Economics
Working class - Tie
Poor, rich and middle class - Bush
Kerry did manage a tie among those $15,000-$30,000 but his
traditional constituency of the poorest voters abandoned him.
Meanwhile from the lower middle class up, it was a cakewalk for
Bush with the richest voters (above $100,000) giving him a 4-1
margin.
Politics
- Above average partisanship
- Huge Republican tilt
- Poor Democratic loyalty
- Good Republican loyalty
- Independents tilt slightly Republican
In a state where Republicans make up half the population, have
good party loyalty and have a six-point advantage among
independents, Democratic defections are not necessary to
victory, but they are there anyway. Sixteen percent of Democrats
voted for Bush. Only 5% of Republicans returned the favor for
Kerry.
Ideology
- Huge conservative tilt
It's a steep 24-point tilt to conservativism here. Not that it matters.
The moderates supported Bush by nine points. Even 22% of
liberals supported the president. With friends like these who
needs enemies?
Religion
- Heavily Protestant
- Sizable Catholic population
Not much to report here.
Demographics
- Mostly equal parts suburban and rural
- Significant urban population
The smaller urban population was split almost dead even. It
went one point for Kerry. But better than 80% of Kansas is
suburban or rural and these areas were less ambivalent. Both
voted W. by similar margins. It's also interesting to note that
small towns were more Bush-friendly than rural areas, in
contrast to the national picture.

Generally, the further west you go the redder the state gets,
though the Kansas City suburbs were not particularly friendly to
Kerry either. In fact, nowhere was outside of Topeka was which
gave him a narrow win.
Other factors
Sixty-three percent of folks here like the war. Roughly the same
amount like Bush.


The Land of the Blue
Where centrism and progressivism meet