(Headline USA) Analysis of the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows a steady migration of Americans away from the Northeast and Midwest, two regions of the country that have lost 66 House seats since 1960.
Overall, those states lean more to the political left, and in many cases have high taxes.
Those Americans have headed to the South and West, which have gained seats.
“People have been voting with their feet for 60 years, and the verdict is clear: People prefer economic policies that generate growth and jobs without increasing taxes,” Henry Olsen wrote for the Washington Post. “Thirty-seven of those 66 seats went to states without an income tax, while another 12 went to states whose combined state and local tax burdens ranked among the 10 lowest.”
Olsen points out that the majority of the states that have lost populations are blue states, often with high “tax and spend” governments.
He argues that President Joe Biden is falling into the same trap as other progressive state governments that voters are trying to avoid.
“Biden seemed to campaign as a person who would pursue prudent centrism, but instead he is governing like a governor of a deep blue state from which many of these voters fled,” Olsen said.
The U.S. Census tallies population counts for each state every ten years.
Those population counts are used to apportion the 435 seats in the House of Representatives.
In the 2020 results, California, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia lost one seat.
Meanwhile, Texas gained two seats while Florida, Colorado, Montana, North Carolina and Oregon added one seat.
Olsen argues the Biden Administration should take note of Americans’ migration as a sign of their distaste for liberal governance.
“Yet the Biden administration is proposing a raft of policies that will massively increase government spending while increasing taxes on businesses of all stripes and families who make $400,000 or more,” he wrote. “And that doesn’t account for the economic effects of Biden’s climate policies, which are sure to harm millions of Americans whose livelihoods rely on the production or extensive use of fossil fuels.”
