a natural “sorting.” Again, it is very scary to see people move–one worries that these people are just looking for a new nest to befoul. As a citizen of a strongly Republican state, I very much share that concern.
BUT…
There is some great news out of an analysis of new-to-Tennessee voters casting their first ballots after registering in Tennessee – they are voting overwhelmingly Republican. In this study, first time voters from California are casting more than three times as many Republican ballots as they are Democrat ballots.
These folks are, on the whole, NOT Lefty evangelists but beleaguered Leftugees. Florida got significantly more Conservative with an influx of people. TN seems to be seeing the same thing.
Maybe it really is a kind of sorting. Moving is NOT easy, and only the most motivated will go that route. And there is the admonition they regularly hear to not make their new home the same Democrat hellhole they just left.
In a way, these refugees fleeing to red states are a little bit like the Cubans who escaped from Castro’s communism. They experienced first-hand just how destructive left-wing governance can be, and they have a passion to not let their new home states fall victim to the same political ruin that they fled.
Once a person has been forced to drink out of the bitter cup of Leftism, he is not eager to again stain his lips!