Why do Big Cities tend to vote Democratic?

I am wondering why big cities tend to vote Democratic (e.g. Manhattan, San Francisco) when these cities tend to be very rich and have a lot of members of the capitalist class.... I would think, attempting to look at the issue neutrally, that they would tend to favor Republicans as Republicans tend to be proponents of lower taxes...whereas the Democrats tend to want to tax the majority of the people who live in these cities, who are rich, a higher percentage of their income. ........On the other hand, could it be that big cities tend to be more liberal socially (e.g. Gay Marriage, Pro Choice) and that this trumps the economic differences of the two parties? Again, i am trying to get an honest answer, not a political opinion. Thanks!

Public Comments

1. Because they want the money from tax hikes, they want the money for social services like welfare, etc. But they don't want to have to work for it instead, just raise taxes.
2. They drink dirty water from reclamation plants.
3. People in the country used to be all democratic, because it was the Democrats that funded the Highways, Farm to Market roads and the rural electrification project. Not to mention the TVA etc. Highly educated people tend to be strongly Democratic. They live mostly in cities. Republicans tend to be less well educated, and not know much about what is going on outside of thier town. Despite the rhetoric, minorities do not make up a smaller percentage of the rural population. Cheap housing caused by whites moving to the cities, as farm work became more mechanized led to the increase in minorities in the country in the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s. along with the remaining low paying jobs for laborers. However, they do tend to vote far less often than their city relatives. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_United_States I do not know why, but if you vote in a small town you have to vote at the same polls with people that might not appreciate you voting and they will recognize you. People in the country tend to be more prejudiced, and have little contact with people unlike themselves. It used to be that people in the country were Democrats, until Liberal thinking started giving minorities rights in the fifties. What I believe to be correct conservative thinking led the conservatives to be against quotas to make up for past discrimination. This is in fact injustice. But it is not hard to see that if you tend to be a little racist, quotas are the ultimate indignation. That one issue turned the balance of power in the rural areas. Liberals cared less because minorities seldom competed for the jobs that highly educated people took, and educated people do not tend to think of there being one pie that we all have to split up. They just think we will make more pie. It is the natural jump from the concrete to the abstract that trained minds make. Religious conservatives(mostly good country folk) did not join the Republican party until after Jerry Fallwell started the moral majority in 1979. Christians tended to be split between issues like taking care of god's earth, and the poor etc.., and some were most concerned about abortion and legislating morals. Jerry Falwell united many christians around the idea that the worst sin was abortion, and that we should not worry about anything else until we ended that. Now with the strange bedfellows of the racists, and the conservative christians the Republican party reached its zenith. Jerry Fallwell died last year with every one of his objectives unaccomplished despite delivering 6 straight years of complete Republican rule. Many of the people that were part of the moral majority have realized that the Republican party never really planned to deliver. The party leadership realized that if they delivered that the christians would go on to the other things on thier wish list and the Democrats are the party that will do it. I have quotes. Now it appears that many of the former moral majority are disillusioned or without Falwell's leadership are becoming more concerned about global warming then abortion. The fiscal conservatives. The same people that used to want big government to tax the cities and electrify the country and build farm to market roads, now want prisons, and to make certain that none of thier money goes to helping anybody else. The new Republican party will be a coalitions between the splintering fiscal conservatives(many are becoming democrats but not quite a movement), the people that are in favor of the war, and the racists. With the pro war people replacing the moral majority that is splintering. The new Democratic party will be highly educated people, people against the war, and people that are concerned about the global warming, and/or the environment. And a surprising number of fiscal conservative. The democrats are more likely to balance the budget, and cut spending. It is amazing how much wars cost. The dems will become even more educated as the fiscal conservatives were the brain trust of the Republican party. Nobody in either party is in favor of more welfare, and in fact Bill Clinton made the largest cut to welfare and history.
4. More educated More minorities hated by conservatives Seen life beyond the farm.
5. Cities and suburbs tend to be socially liberal because there are many colleges and universities in cities, and young affluent college students are notoriously liberal. Plus you have inner-city minorities (mostly blacks) who favor the Democratic party because they like having lots of support from the government (i.e. welfare, universal health care, medicare, etc). People from rural areas tend to be overwhelmingly socially conservative because they are not exposed to many different cultures and minority groups.
6. People dependent on government programs for their support tend to gravitate to areas where such things as public housing and other services are offered. The larger the concentration of low income or subsidized housing, the greater the concentration of dependent people. People on welfare or other government programs, tend to vote for and support politicians who promise them more and more entitlement programs. This keeps them permanently on the lowest rung of the economic ladder. It helps provide a large voter block for Democrats. Then there are the large labor unions that fill the Civil Service jobs and depend on large building contracts. Plenty of opportunity for them if big spending Democrats are running things. Finally, there are a lot of businesses that employ liberal college students straight out of school. They enter the liberal echo chamber and only come into contact with other liberal people where their liberal views are never challenged. *
7. Well, People think that there is been 10 years now. Republicans kept US under their control. Also US has economical problems. So people will think that let's choose Democratic party and see how they do.
8. they want to show how lefty they are.
9. That capitalist mega rich class only make up 1% out of 100% of the lower classes. They may have the money but the lower classes has the larger people count. "Democrats tend to want to tax the majority of the people who live in these cities, who are rich, a higher percentage of their income". No, not just rich but mega rich, for Democrats want them to pay more taxes the mega rich, they are the one's finding wholes in the systems to not pay thier fair share. PS. my opinion only of what I think who should be taxed more.