
Why Most Academics Tilt Left - andrenth
https://fee.org/articles/why-most-academics-tilt-left/
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chillacy
Why do people who live in low population areas skew conservative? It turns out
being an hour away from the nearest police patrol and being far from other
people tends to encourage seeking personal freedom, less government (after all
you never see them), gun ownership, etc. So if I say that we need more
diversity of political beliefs in rural areas... but that seems impossible
given that these are rational beliefs for the given circumstances. As the
author alludes, likewise for academics.

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krapp
>It turns out being an hour away from the nearest police patrol and being far
from other people tends to encourage seeking personal freedom, less government
(after all you never see them), gun ownership, etc.

Police response can be low and gun ownership high in urban areas as well.

The reason people in low population areas skew conservative is more likely
that conservatives in those areas have successfully branded themselves as the
party of Christianity and the sole defenders of traditional American cultural
values (particularly gun ownership), and their opponents as the antithesis of
all.

And, ironically (given the gist of your comment), those values tend to include
_supporting_ the police and the government more so than their urban
counterparts. They don't want freedom from government so much as freedom from
atheists, liberals and Democrats in government.

