15 Most Conservative Major Cities in the United States

In this article we take a look at the 15 Most Conservative Major Cities in the United States.  

Conservatism is a social and political philosophy that emphasizes the preservation of traditional social institutions. In Western cultures, conservatives aim to protect institutions such as organized religion, parliamentary government, and property rights. In the United States, conservatism reflects respect for American traditions, limited government, and republicanism. It supports Judeo-Christian values, American exceptionalism, moral universalism, and individualism. In the U.S., there is a clear distinction between conservative and liberal cities, with conservatives typically supporting the Republican Party and liberals supporting the Democratic Party.

Political leaders in the U.S. receive support from wealthy lobbyists and special interest groups who provide financial backing. Companies like The Coca-Cola Company, Walmart Inc., Exxon Mobil Corporation, and major airlines such as American Airlines Group Inc., United Airlines Holdings, Inc., and Southwest Airlines Co. have traditionally supported the Republican Party due to the perception that Republicans adopt policies favorable to big businesses. Contemporary American brands like Apple Inc., Starbucks Corporation, and Ben & Jerry’s openly embrace Democratic policies.

Socially, U.S. conservatives are primarily concerned with issues such as opposing abortion, lobbying against gambling, advocating against drug use, opposing pornography, opposing same-sex marriage, supporting school prayer, and endorsing school vouchers.

Policy Conservatism has also been linked to the social patterns in cities. Conservative folks are likely to be more comfortable living in predominantly conservative cities. They prefer more traditional ways of life, are religious in their outlook and look for conservative social interactions. Policy conservatism greatly reflects the social life of an area. Big cities, by far, are therefore much liberal at times, where modern trumps traditional and demographics are way more varied. 

A study by MIT researchers shows how conservatism prevails  in the U.S cities. City policies are tracked to show how they reflect conservative and liberal sentiments. The MIT methodology includes analyzing City Policy Preferences through an elaborate survey of ideal points of over 275,000 American respondents to arrive at city-level policy conservatism. It also deducts that city policy outcomes are dependent on policy conservatism of cities and validated against estimates of presidential vote share in each city. 

We have based our rankings on this research and also taken into account the 2016 election outcomes that indicate majority conservative votes, in each city. This way we have reported both the rankings we have gathered – MIT conservativeness ranks and the 2016 election conservativeness ranks , along with our blended rankings that gives a clear picture of the most recent conservatism patterns in cities. We have limited our ranking to cities with a population of 250,000. 

Smaller towns are known to be more conservative. At least, that is what general opinion says.  However, we have a few surprises in our observation like Kansas City does not fall in the 15 most conservative major cities in the United States! It implies some cities that we consider to be conservative might actually be more liberal than others. If that makes you wonder, there are few surprising entries in our 11 most sexually liberal cities list as well! If you are looking to support conservative companies, please see 15 most conservative companies in America. 

While we uncover the 15 most conservative major cities in the United States, it points to the possibility that the “swing states” are the ones that are going to be the major deciders for the presidential results. Here is the complete list – 

15.  Tampa 

MIT conservativeness ranking – 25

2016 election conservativeness ranking – 39

If we look at 2016 presidential election results, over 51.6% votes were captured by Trump. Even though the city is majorly conservative, it is quite liberal-friendly. 

14. Dallas 

MIT conservativeness ranking – 33

2016 election conservativeness ranking – 31

Dallas, might be one of the most liberal cities in the otherwise conservative Texas. But, it does score pretty high on conservatism overall. 

13. Virginia Beach 

MIT conservativeness ranking – 65

2016 election conservativeness ranking – 60

While Virginia Beach is widely believed to be conservative, the 2016 election results paint a different picture, considering Trump had only secured 44.41% of votes. 

12. Charlotte 

MIT conservativeness ranking – 26

2016 election conservativeness ranking – 37

In North Carolina Republicans were elected 9 times in the last 10 elections  – However, the state’s inclination can be difficult to determine. Charlotte too has a conservative bent but quite in the middle. 

11. San Antonio 

MIT conservativeness ranking – 15

2016 election conservativeness ranking – 42

If we are to determine San Antonio’s position in the political spectrum, it certainly falls into the conservative category. However, the city might be more liberal than other places in Texas. 

10. Phoenix 

MIT conservativeness ranking – 19

2016 election conservativeness ranking -36

While the conservative quotient can be higher in the suburbs, Phoenix does clearly leans towards conservatism. Arizona elected Trump in the 2016 elections. Democrats are hoping to flip Phoenix and Arizone this time around.

9. Louisville 

MIT conservativeness ranking – 23

2016 election conservativeness ranking -32

While the whole of Kentucky is strongly conservative, Louisville can be considered a splash of liberal. Considering Kentucky’s conservativeness, the city scores quite low on our list of 15 Most Conservative Major Cities in the United States

8. Indianapolis 

MIT conservativeness ranking – 24

2016 election conservativeness ranking -30

Indiana is widely considered as conservative. The Cook Partisan Voting Index that provides a measure of liberalism or conservativeness in regions, has also rated it high on the conservative scale. 

7. Cincinnati 

MIT conservativeness ranking -30

2016 election conservativeness ranking -13

Liberalism can be found in pockets, but Cincinnati can be very well considered a Republican city.  40.3%  of the city voted for Clinton in the 2016 elections. 

6. Omaha 

MIT conservativeness ranking -8

2016 election conservativeness ranking -24

Nebraska might be highly conservative, and even though recently Omaha has shown slight inclinations towards liberal, it still is considered to have a major lean towards conservatism 

5.  Wichita 

MIT conservativeness ranking – 17

2016 election conservativeness ranking – 6

As we get into our Top 5, the conservative quotient definitely gets higher. Wichita, is definitely one of the cities on the conservative side of the political spectrum