Press release
Realtor.com® Red Versus Blue Report: Blue State Americans Are Searching For Homes In Swing States; What Does That Mean For The Presidential Election?
Americans are migrating from Democratic urban areas to more affordable suburbs and rural areas that lean Republican. But will they turn any red states blue?
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[{"type":"text","content":"Americans are migrating from Democratic urban areas to more affordable suburbs and rural areas that lean Republican. But will they turn any red states blue?\n\n\nSANTA CLARA, Calif., Oct. 6, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The ongoing trend of Americans migrating from densely populated typically Democratic urban areas to more affordable suburbs and rural areas that historically lean more Republican could potentially have an impact on the outcome of the upcoming presidential election, according to a new analysis released today by realtor.com®. The report reveals that the majority of out of town searches for homes in the battleground states of Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin come from states and counties that lean blue.\nThe analysis examines the searches of home shoppers on realtor.com® looking outside their local market over the last three years. For the purpose of this study, the analysis assumes the political affiliation of the home searchers is proportional to the distribution of their county of origin during the 2016 presidential election. It does not account for changes in political affiliation, other factors that may cause someone to shift their allegiances, or the migration of renters, who tend to move more frequently. \n\"For years homebuyers have looked from urban areas to more suburban and rural areas to find the affordability that makes buying a home possible. The additional time at home and flexibility to work remotely as a result of the pandemic have further fueled this trend,\" said realtor.com® Chief Economist Danielle Hale. \"Although many factors will ultimately influence voting decisions, what we may learn in just a little over a month is whether these shoppers ended up changing the results in the states they moved into, or not. We know a number of blue staters' interest in swing state moves; but we just don't know how many of them actually did move, and whether they themselves vote Democratic or Republican.\"\nAccording to the analysis, which examined all 50 states and the District of Columbia, the majority of out of town searches for homes in Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin -- four of the 13 identified by a Politico analysis as battleground states -- are coming from states and counties that lean blue. These search patterns also indicate that, with the exception of Georgia, the 30 states that ...