This is interesting. I took the rankings for state unemployment as of June 2009 (from <http://www.bls.gov/lau/stalt.htm>), and notated them with Red/Blue state rankings from Wikipedia. (Wikipedia is never authoritative, but in this case it is probably close to correct.)

Unemployment
Rank		 State Unemployment
Rate		 Red/Blue
Rank
51 MICHIGAN 19.2 D + 9.120
50 OREGON 18.4 D + 7.798
49 CALIFORNIA 17.7 D + 14.414
48 RHODE ISLAND 17.1 D + 25.708
47 SOUTH CAROLINA 16.8 R + 11.230
46 TENNESSEE 15.7 R + 5.228
45 FLORIDA 15.6 D + 0.320
44 ARIZONA 15.5 R + 4.990
43 NEVADA 15.2 D + 2.004
42 OHIO 15.1 D + 1.432
41 NORTH CAROLINA 14.8 R + 6.086
40 INDIANA 14.6 R + 9.398
38 KENTUCKY 14.5 R + 9.408
38 GEORGIA 14.5 R + 6.814
37 ILLINOIS 14.4 D + 15.844
36 IDAHO 14.2 R + 27.018
35 ALABAMA 14.1 R + 15.162
34 MISSISSIPPI 13.9 R + 12.766
33 WASHINGTON 13.5 D + 10.774
32 HAWAII 13.3 D + 21.806
30 ARKANSAS 13.0 R + 0.080
30 MINNESOTA 13.0 D + 8.860
28 MISSOURI 12.9 D + 1.156
28 MAINE 12.8 D + 12.136
27 ALASKA 12.7 R + 20.946
25 CONNECTICUT 12.4 D + 14.954
25 NEW JERSEY 12.4 D + 11.656
24 DELAWARE 12.3 D + 13.814
23 NEW YORK 12.2 D+ 22.966
22 DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 12.1 D + 78.674
20 WISCONSIN 11.9 D + 5.838
20 MONTANA 11.9 R + 9.668
19 PENNSYLVANIA 11.8 D + 7.040
18 NEW MEXICO 11.7 D + 6.056
17 MASSACHUSETTS 11.6 D + 26.032
16 COLORADO 11.5 R + 0.238
14 TEXAS 11.3 R + 12.872
14 WEST VIRGINIA 11.3 R + 0.902
13 VERMONT 10.4 D + 21.006
12 MARYLAND 10.2 D + 16.996
11 NEW HAMPSHIRE 10.1 D + 4.176
9 KANSAS 10.0 R + 16.892
9 VIRGINIA 10.0 R + 3.252
8 IOWA 9.9 D + 5.110
7 UTAH 9.3 R + 30.768
6 LOUISIANA 9.1 R + 4.824
5 SOUTH DAKOTA 8.7 R + 11.920
4 OKLAHOMA 8.4 R + 20.152
3 WYOMING 8.1 R + 26.132
2 NEBRASKA 7.8 R + 22.606
1 NORTH DAKOTA 7.0 R + 16.484

What stands out about this is the ends of the scale. The highest unemployment states tend to be Democratic, swing or weak Republican states. The lowest unemployment states tend to be Republican or weak Democratic. Compare the top 10 and bottom 10.

The middle of chart is mostly blue, in other words the most mediocre. Liberalism owns the poorest and the most mediocre states. Conservativism owns the most prosperous states.

This illustrates what we’ve known all along. That conservativism is good for your quality of life.

I’ve read commentaries interpreting this kind of data to mean that the more well off tend to vote conservative. Another way of looking at this is that conservative values tend to lead to being more well off.

This also illustrates that my home state, Oregon, which is religious about being “green” and using “sustainability,” is killing its own economy by its own kooky fanaticism.

Stumble it!