An increasingly tense political climate has led more Americans than ever before to leave their homes for areas more consistent with their beliefs.
Idaho, which has increasingly become a conservative safe haven (at least) over the last half-decade, reports that of the 119,000 voters who have moved to the Gem State in the last decade or so, about 65 percent are Republicans.
According to the Seattle Times, Idaho is a red state, although its partisan makeup is only 58 percent Republican voters.
The data, obtained from the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office, shows that only 12 percent of new Idahoans registered as Democrats, 21 percent registered as unaffiliated and two percent chose Libertarians.
The numbers support the widely studied pattern of migration from intensely blue cities to areas with more conservative, traditional values.
The Times reported that 14,400 Washingtonians moved to Idaho last year, while just over 10,000 went the other direction.
Tim Kohl and his wife Jennifer moved to a suburb of Boise, Idaho, last year to leave Los Angeles, where Tim had spent his career as a police officer and saw his precinct burned during the 2020 George Floyd riots
Regional exchange appears to be at an all-time high due to increasingly different legal and governmental rules in red and blue regions.
In Seattle, Portland and San Francisco, highly progressive leaders have overseen the loosening of law enforcement in ways that are making life unpleasant to dangerous for some residents.
States like Idaho, whose legislature is overwhelmingly conservative — laws that include abortion bans and reinforce gender binaries — have sent some liberals into the race.
VOA interviewed Tim Kohl and his wife Jennifer, who moved last year to a suburb of Boise, Idaho, where he can fly his “Thin Blue Line” flag without fear of retaliation – something he has done in his life former city of Los Angeles couldn’t do it. He was a police officer for many years.
Jennifer said they were “scared to put it up” but were confident they had chosen the right spot for their new home when neighbors started complimenting them on the display.
The couple said they felt like they were not being served by the government services they paid for with their tax dollars.
They remember that trash began piling up in and around huge homeless encampments and their taxes went to illegal immigrants rather than U.S. citizens.
Jennifer’s mother was one of those citizens who was on many waiting lists for government assistance, for which she qualified based on her income level.
Idaho has been one of the fastest growing states in recent years, but has managed to maintain a politically conservative outlook and culture
Jennifer said they were sure they had chosen the right location for their new home when neighbors started complimenting them on the display of their Thin Blue Line flag
Kathleen Rickerson moved from Minnesota (a generally blue state) to Colorado to get rid of neighbors who doubted mask and vaccination mandates during the pandemic
Tim’s police station, located in the mountains west of Los Angeles, was subjected to an arson attack during the violent protests following the death of George Floyd in 2020.
“Here, of course, the tax money goes to the citizens and not to the immigrants,” said Tim. “Most of the people we met here are originally from California.”
Thad Kousser, a professor at the University of California, San Diego, said increasing political equality among states’ populations is making it increasingly difficult for individuals from both parties to feel engaged.
“It gives a party the opportunity to move a state forward if they do exactly what their electorate wants,” he said.
Idaho has become such a promised land for conservatives that 12 counties in Oregon have tried to secede from their home state and join their staunchly Republican neighbor instead.
The so-called Greater Idaho movement emerged after Oregon decriminalized the possession of all illegal drugs, leading to a huge increase in crime in its largest city, Portland.
The other cities of Portland and Oregon have also become synonymous with anarchist, anti-police activities, homelessness, overt drug use, and extremely woke politics on issues of race and gender identity.
Many residents of rural Oregon say these beliefs are too far to the left of their own and that they want to change their state without moving.
But efforts to join Idaho face an uphill battle. Even if county votes approved, Oregon’s state legislatures and the United States Congress itself would have to approve such a move.