Investors.com...
Economy: Blue States Worse Than Red Under Obama
By John Merline, Investor’s Business Daily  
May 10,  2012 

Barack Obama entered the national spotlight with a rousing 2004 Democratic convention speech that talked about how it was wrong “to slice and dice our country into red states and blue states.” Last week he reiterated the point in a tweet to his Twitter followers, saying that “there are no red states or blue states, just the United States.” 

But when it comes to the economic recovery, there has been a clear difference. It turns out that blue states have done worse economically than have red states under President Obama, according to an IBD analysis of various government economic data. 

IBD compared average job growth, unemployment, changes in housing prices, per capita income and GDP growth, and gas prices for the 22 states that voted for John McCain in 2008 and the 28 states that voted for Obama . 

On every indicator but one, blue states have done worse, on average, than red states. 

In addition, IBD looked at the economic performance of 11 states that Real Clear Politics lists as tossups for the 2012 presidential election. Many of these purple battleground states have fared far worse than the country as a whole during the past three years. 

Among the findings: 

Job growth: The average increase for blue states was just 1.2% from June 2009 — the official start of the economic recovery — to March 2012. For red states, it was 1.9%. The national average was 1.8%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

Unemployment: The jobless rate in March was 8.5% in blue states and 7.4% in red states, BLS data show. 

Income: Blue states also did a bit worse when it came to per cap ita personal pay, rising 4.27% in 2011 compared with 4.35% in red states, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis data 

GDP: The one measure where blue states outperformed was in gross domestic product growth, clocking an average 2.5% increase from 2009 to 2010 vs. red states’ 2.2%. State GDP figures for 2011 won’t come out until June. 

Home prices: People living in liberal areas suffered the most when it came to housing prices. Over the past year, the housing price index fell 3.5% in blue states. The index edged up by 0.03% in conservative states. Nationwide, it was down 2.4%, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s House Price Index. Over the past five years, housing prices in red states fell 7.5%, but by 18.5% in blue states. 

Gas prices: Blue states also suffer when it comes to gasoline. All but one of the 10 most expensive gas states voted for Obama in 2008. In contrast, all but one of the 10 cheapest gas states voted for McCain, according to gasoline price data from the AAA’s fuel gauge report. On average, blue state prices were 5% higher than those in red states. 

What explains these different economic outcomes? 

One possibility is that red states tend to be more business-friendly. George Mason University’s Mercatus Center recently. “But in swing states, it’s a different story. Republicans may be able to make some hay out of economic distress in swing states that Obama carried in 2008, such as Florida and Nevada.” 

Sabato did note that Virginia is doing well “and the Obama White House and campaign should be able to use the good news to their benefit in November.” 

There’s also the question of how the faster growth in red states, if it continues, could affect the election. One possibility is that their economic speed could boost the nation’s overall mood and wind up helping Obama’s re-election chances. 

Read this and other articles at Investors.com