Conservative vs Liberal

Red vs Blue

How America's Great Divide Measures Out

USA Flag Conservative-Lower Taxes Liberal-Higher Taxes
QUALITY OF LIFE CRITERIA & RANKS Alabama Oklahoma Connecticut Minnesota
Best States to Live In 2019 49 43 21 3
Per Capita Income 2018 46 44 6 14
Polution 2017 37 19 18 11
Poverty Rate 2018 7 13 48 47
Incarceration Rate 4 2 36 49
Best Educated Index 43 39 2 6
Average ACT Scores 2019 18.9 18.9 25.5 21.4
Overall Mental Health 2020 41 42 10 6
Overall Child Well-Being 2017 35 44 1 18
Occupational Fatalities per Capita 10 18 39 37
Status of Women 49 46 1 5
Public Health Quality 2016 47 46 3 4
% Who Exercised in Past Month 48(70%) 46(72%) 9(81%) 1(84%)
Death Rate
 5 8 46 49
Teen Pregnancy Rate
higher=worse		 41 43 7 6
Infant Mortality 3 7 39 37
Physicians per capita 44 46 5 15
Toothless Residents 4 6 48 50
Employee Heath Coverage 29 43 5 2
% of Mobile Homes in Housing 5 20 46 42
Violent Crime Rate 2018 7 12 46 41
Traffic Death Rate 2010 5 6 36 47
Public Corruption 15 22 31 44
Suicide Death Rate
 24 9 47 41
Fire Death Rate 5 6 35 26
Divorce Rate
% per 1000		 6.2 6.7 2.8 3.6
Most Obese States 2 7 49 38
Local & State Tax Burden In % of Income & Rank 2016 7.41% - 43 6.95% - 45 10.91% - 5 10.46% - 6
Right to Work? yes yes no no
In addition, CT and MN placed on the Top 10 list for states best protecting personal privacy, ranking 3 and 2, respectively.----------------------------------------------------------------

The Verdict?

So if anyone questions whether life is better in a conservative state with lower taxes or in a liberal one with higher taxes, it can be easily answered using the chart above.

Republican political propaganda talk of smaller, more conservative government and lower taxes as the better way to go will not work, if better living conditions are desired. Actually, Oklahoma and other conservative states have already been going down that path for a long time with sadly disappointing results as evidenced in the above chart.

Oklahoma Republicans try to come back by saying that Democrat rule for many years since statehood explains the state's poor quality of life rankings. But blue states have also tended to be dominated by Democrats for a long time. The differences may be less about party rule and more about regional cultural attitudes about what role government should play in the life of the individual as well as in advancing society for the better.

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