New Census Numbers a Bright Spot for GOP

[rodeodance]

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/

Posted at 06:00 AM ET, 01/ 2/2007
New Census Numbers a Bright Spot for GOP

Just days before Christmas -- paging a public relations professional! -- the U.S. Census Bureau released a slew of data documenting population growth in various states and regions across the country.

At first glance, the numbers appear encouraging for Republicans. The ten states with the highest percentage population growth between July 1, 2005 and July 1, 2006 -- Arizona, Nevada, Idaho, Georgia, Texas, Utah, North Carolina, Colorado, Florida and South Carolina -- were carried by President George W. Bush in 2004.

Regionally, too, the highest population growth is in areas that are Republican-red. The states comprising the South gained 1.5 million people over the past year, and the region now accounts for 36 percent of the national population. The West picked up more than 1 million people in the same period and now makes up 23 percent of the population; the Midwest gained 281,000 people and represents 22 percent of the nation's population total. The Northeast, which produced Democratic gains in the House and Senate in 2006, added just 62,000 people and is now the smallest region of the country with 18 percent of the population.

But to understand the political implications of the population numbers we must look forward, not back. Following the 2010 Census, congressional district boundary lines across the country will be redrawn -- a process largely controlled by state legislatures and governors. Therefore, the party in control of the growing states following the 2010 election will largely determine whether Democrats or Republicans in future congressional elections will benefit from the population fluctuations..........

[lancdem]

1. Maybe the population growth

will help make some of these red states less red. BTW, some of those states are considered swing, such as Florida, Nevada, and Colorado is becoming bluer, too. And Clinton won Arizona in 1996.

[dave_p]

2. Yes

It'll be mostly in-migration, likely from places that aren't so red... so it's not necessarily such good news for the GOP. It'll give those states more seats after the next post-Census reallocation, but may also make them harder for them to hold on to.