THE POLITICS OF POPULATION THE REAL MIDDLE OF AMERICA THIRD Edition

• Published in: The Boston globe
• Main Author: Butz, William P
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston, Mass Boston Globe Media Partners, LLC 04.04.2004
• ISSN: 0743-1791

Right now, Missouri is the balance state, the fulcrum of US population, in one sense the national average. In a respect that will matter in November, though, Missourians are in no way average: They have voted with the winning presidential candidate in the last 11 elections - a longer winning streak than any other state. Accordingly, Missouri is now a key presidential battleground. How do Missourians stack up in other ways against the rest of us, against Massachusetts citizens in particular? According to Census Bureau statistics, three of 10 Missourians were rural in 2000, compared with fewer than one in 10 citizens of Massachusetts. Over time, Missourians are becoming less rural, just as we are, but at a much slower clip (from 31 percent to 30 percent during the '90s, compared to the precipitous Massachusetts decline from 16 percent to 9 percent). Missourians are younger on average, nearly all native born (97 percent compared with 88 percent here), considerably less well educated (22 percent college graduates compared with 33 percent here), and 85 percent non-Hispanic white just like Massachusetts. Median family income is lower in Missouri than here ($61,000 in Missouri, $80,000 in Massachusetts).