Have you ever moved or would you ever move to be around people with similar political views?

I can not imagine myself ever doing that.
First of, I don’t really care for your political leaning.
Second, us having the choice of around 20 to 25 parties, when it concerns national elections, makes it much more diverse then your (American) two party system (in local elections the choice is still broad, with around 10 parties, on average).
Third (probably because of point 2)there aren’t really hot spots of one certain party in our ridiculously small country.
Maybe some neighborhoods lean, overall, more left, while others lean more right (overall), but too minute to be noticeable (on the outside).

I never have before, but I likely would now. But then, I can never recall such turmoil before. Before 45, I never heard a president refer to Nazis as “very fine people”, or advocate for the assault of women, or work against public health measures during such a time. Before January 6, 2020, I had never watched a coup attempt in my country in real time.

I live in a pretty blue place, and a few months ago, in a parking lot, a large, middle-aged, white man approached me and sharply said “You don’t need this” while reaching for my mask.
I am a small, chubby, somewhat elderly, gray-haired lady and a man tried to remove something from my person. At 9:30 in the morning. At the supermarket.

You damned bet I wouldn’t move to a place where such actions were likely to be more frequent.

Crap. I meant 2021. I have lost a year.

I probably live in the bluest place in the country. But I’ve been here 50 plus years. That the area coincides more or less politically with my disposition I previously took as a bonus. I was chuckling the other day as my poor conservative neighbor told me of his plan to join the much vaunted exodus to Texas and freedom from government intrusion and high taxes. I will forever recall the expression crossing his face when asked “what do you suppose will happen to Texas when enough smart people relocate there?”

Well let’s see…when I lived in Oregon, I was asked to leave a party, and later found out the guy who owned the apartment was nicknamed “racist zack”.

He said “I don’t care who he is, I’ll fuckin kill em” as I walked out the door. He asked someone else to ask me to leave…couldn’t do it himself.

Then, there’s all the times I was flipped off, stared at by guys in trucks waving Confederate flags, and yelled at by cars driving by….

So uhm yea….is this news to you or something?

@Blackberry East of the Cascades?

Yes.

Recently?

No. I would never move anyhere based on some vague idea of finding politically “like minded” people.

Current American politics is nothing more than a toxic con game. Anyone who lets that garbage define their entire life is worse than foolish.

And as far as some “big sort” taking place, the book and the theory behind it ignores one obvious reality: More and more people leave both parties each year to get away from the insanity. In fact voters who identify as independent are the new majority – Over 45% compared to 24% Republican and 28% Democrat :
https://news.gallup.com/poll/15370/party-affiliation.aspx

That “big sort” happened because people changed their minds, not their address.

@JLoon That may be so, but too often “independents” just end up voting with the same party they were affiliated with before. I’d be more optimistic if this increase in the number of independents actually signaled an end to to the two-party system or at least the rise of a viable third party. But the system doesn’t seem to be going anywhere, no matter how people are affiliated…

@Blackberry So uhm yea….is this news to you or something?

You just couldn’t not be a dick, could you? ;)

@HP close. Heading east away from Portland.

@Demosthenes – I think you can be as optimistic as you choose, or as pessimistic as you want. But you don’t need to move anywhere to sort that out.

^True. I also think some people moving for “political” reasons are ultimately moving for financial reasons, e.g. lower taxes, lower cost of living, but these things often correspond with political climate.

To answer the question: I have never moved to be around like-minded people and probably wouldn’t choose a place to live based on its politics alone (I personally don’t care much about electoral politics, so whether a place is more Democratic or Republican doesn’t matter much to me), however, as I’ve probably mentioned more than once, having grown up in a place that was accepting of LGBT people (largely) and taking that for granted, as a gay person, I could not live in a place where homophobia prevailed. I could not live somewhere where walking around with a boyfriend or mentioning that I have a boyfriend is a risk. So that would have to be a factor in finding a place to live.

No one wants to live somewhere they would not be welcome or are made to feel uncomfortable. Politics may be that factor for some.

Oh no. I manage to avoid political discussions IRL so it’s not a problem for me.
And no. I won’t move away from my grandkids.

No but I’m lucky to live in an area that largely aligns with views. Not everyone of course, but enough that I don’t feel alone in my beliefs or worse, threatened because of them.

I realize what a massive privilege this is.

@Demosthenes – Everthing you point out about your own choices makes sense. And it looks like politics is at the bottom of the list – where it belongs.

No. I ignore politics as much as possible.

I grew up a moderate in the Bay Area.
I now live in an insane red county.
I miss the Bay. It’s easier for me to deal with those on my left.

You ignore the politics at your peril. Neither side of what appears to be a blue/red debate is as they would have you believe. But you WILL pay the price for ignoring it. Today there should be no political suggestion, measure or consideration that does not first and foremost answer the question, who winds up with the money?

No. Not really necessary. I live close to the Austin area which is largely Dem and liberal anyway. I rarely and seldom talk politics with any one IRL anyway. Other than with my Sis, and we are pretty much on the same page. Other than her being far more vocal and radical than am I.