In her long and futile search for why she lost the 2016 election, former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton did manage to find some solace in the areas she carried against President Donald Trump.
Clinton was at least right that the places she carried were profoundly different from those Trump won, just not in the way she characterized them.
The differences are vividly seen by comparing Clinton’s California and New York with Trump’s Texas and Florida on the basis of a host of political, economic, and demographic factors, among others.
To grasp, for example, how inaccurate Clinton’s self-absorbed description was, consider that red states Florida and Texas gained millions of new residents in the last decade, showing increases of 11.88 percent and 7.29 percent respectively. New York lost 2.7 percent and California gained a mere 0.89 percent.
Opposing Poles
The four states share some characteristics, but mostly they make up two opposing poles, with California and New York representing affluent but highly regulated and increasingly troubled blue America, and Florida and Texas leading the increasingly prosperous, opportunity-driven red America.Population-wise, California ranks first, with 39.5 million, followed by Texas with 29 million, Florida with 21.4 million and New York with 19.4 million.
But that’s about where the similarities end. The cost of a median-value home in California is $549,671 and $323,797 in New York. Buying such a home is much easier in Florida ($243,527) and Texas ($205,943).
Politics
The differences are even starker on politics where the red and blue divide is brutal. Texas last elected a Democratic governor in 1990 and no Democratic presidential contender has carried the state since Jimmy Carter in 1976. Democrats got only 47 percent of the Texas vote for seats in Congress in 2018.Florida’s last elected Democratic governor was Lawton Chiles in 1996, and Democratic presidential aspirants have carried the Sunshine State only twice since 2000. Democratic House seat seekers received 47.1 percent of the Florida vote in 2018.
Taxes, Spending, Health
The differences among these four states extend far beyond politics. California and New York are high-tax burden states, ranking first and 11th respectively, compared to Texas (33) and Florida (47).That division is also reflected in how state officials spend tax dollars. In 2018, for example, California spent $141 billion on public welfare, with New York spending $71.6 billion.
Florida spent only $27.8 billion and Texas $39.4 billion on public welfare, a combined total that is less than New York and barely more than a fourth of California’s expenditures in the category.
A similar pattern is found on education spending, with California devoting $102.3 billion and New York $46.9 billion to public education. Texas spent $56.4 billion and Florida $28.6 billion.
In health care, California comes in at $6.6 billion and New York at $9.8 billion. Florida, with $3.9 billion, and Texas, with $3 billion, together spend less on health than New York and barely half as much as California.
In terms of the overall access to and quality of health care, however, Florida (24) and Texas (19) rank noticeably better than California (39) and New York (49).
The states’ respective approaches to criminal justice are diametrically opposed. In Texas, 549 of every 100,000 persons go to jail, while Florida’s per capita rate is 454. California’s figure is 321 and New York jails only 239 per capita.
Per capita violent crime rates aren’t quite as separated. California has the highest figure at 447, but Texas is second at 410, followed by Florida at 385 and New York with 350. California and Texas also have the lowest median ages in years at 36.7 and 34.9, which may account for their higher violent crime standings.
Other differences stand out. New York’s famously litigious culture is reflected in the 93.2 figure for lawyers per capita, higher than California’s 43.01. Florida comes in at 36.8 and Texas at 31.8.
A measure of how paternalistic the various state governments are finds New York topping the list and California close behind at 47. Florida at 34 and Texas at 32 were somewhat less paternalistic.
Similarly, a measure of each state’s regulatory restrictiveness (as measured by the frequency of words like “must,” “shall” and “required”) found California with the most (395,503), New York next at 307,636, followed by Texas (226,89) and Florida as the least restrictive at 170,890.
