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US Census: Red states are growing
[Al Jazeera] Watching red and blue patches pop up on the US map at every election is part of the political junkie's nail-biting ritual. However, The infamous However... it seems that US Census data released on Tuesday will deliver a bit of a spoiler. If you prefer to be surprised, stop reading. Otherwise, here it is: The Census figures predict that Republican-leaning states in the US South and West will gain political clout from US population figures, dealing a blow to Barack B.O.Obama, US president, and his fellow Democrats that could linger for years. The Census projections show a population shift from Democratic-leaning states in the Northeast and Midwest to Republican strongholds like Texas, Utah and South Carolina, giving those states more seats in the US House of Representatives. The new figures, also could play a role in the 2012 White House race. The number of House seats determines each state's representation in the Electoral College, which is used to elect a president. The release of the figures kicks off the once-a-decade, state-by-state fight over redrawing congressional lines to ensure each House district represents roughly the same number of people. The process, known as redistricting, is intensely partisan in many states as the parties fight to draw the boundaries in a way that makes each of the 435 House districts more reliably Republican or Democratic. States that gained seats must determine where to place the new districts, with the dominant party in each state looking for maximum political advantage. States that lost seats will decide which districts to combine, meaning some House incumbents will have to face each other in the 2012 election. "Now everyone can start to figure out who has a target on their back," said Tim Storey, a redistricting expert at the National Conference of State Legislatures. The figures were released by the Census Bureau in its 2010 national population survey, conducted every 10 years. Posted by: Fred 2010-12-22 |
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