> The bluer states are trending down population-wise and the red states are where the most economic and population growth seems to be happening.
"Seems" perhaps, but, not more than that when it comes to economic growth. [1] Its closer to (but still very far from) true in population terms, in that many of the most rapidly growing states are redder states and few are bluer states (but many of the slowest growing states are redder states, too!) [2], and to the degree it resembles truth in population terms, that underscores how far from true it is in economic terms, since the handful of redder states that are growing the fastest in GSP are also the ones growing fastest in population, which means that their GSP per capita growth rate isn't actually that good (meanwhile top-quintile GSP growth bluer states like California and Massachussetts are more in the middle of the pack in population growth.)
"Seems" perhaps, but, not more than that when it comes to economic growth. [1] Its closer to (but still very far from) true in population terms, in that many of the most rapidly growing states are redder states and few are bluer states (but many of the slowest growing states are redder states, too!) [2], and to the degree it resembles truth in population terms, that underscores how far from true it is in economic terms, since the handful of redder states that are growing the fastest in GSP are also the ones growing fastest in population, which means that their GSP per capita growth rate isn't actually that good (meanwhile top-quintile GSP growth bluer states like California and Massachussetts are more in the middle of the pack in population growth.)
[1] http://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/regional/gdp_state/gsp_newsr... [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_populati...