Nailing liberalism/conservatism by the 50 U.S. states

Using principal components analysis, I derived a PC from the following state-level variables:



1. Fundamental religiosity (Z)

2. Gun owners (%)

3. Same sex households (%)

4. Starbucks:Walmart (a ratio of the number of Starbucks stores in a state relative to the number of Walmart stores)

5. Earnings gap (% more money men make versus women).



The PC explained 75% of the variance in these 5 variables. Here's scatter plots of its correlation with the percentage of self-identified liberals (r = -.91), and then conservatives (r = .90) within each state:













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