Mid-Atlantic Regional Trend

North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania constitute the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. New Jersey and Pennsylvania are borderline Northeast and Midatlantic. All of these states are trending Democrat. This region, along with the Northeast, is growing more socially liberal. While many new Democrats are still fairly moderate economically and socially, the GOP is taking an increasingly socially conservative stance and has not been staying true to its economically conservative roots. Northern Virginia is moving heavily to the Democrats, while western North Carolina is moving to the Democrats (even though it is still staunchly conservative). The suburbs around the major cities on the East coast have been trending Democratic lately, contrary to the general Republican-ness of outlying suburbs. Virginia ranks 3rd among Republican states in terms of movement to the Democrats after Nevada and Colorado. North Carolina ranks 8th. The main shift in political attitudes here has been towards Populist beliefs. Increasingly, the Democrats have been the more populist party in the area. The Democrats here are more conservative socially than in the Northeast, and their economic beliefs are more in tune with voters here. The Republicans will continue to lose this region unless they start becoming a more Populist party, rather than being conservative.