It may surprise some locals, but Gainesville ranked as the fourth-best city for centrists in the nation in a recent ranking published by Livability.com.
The website’s description of Gainesville pointed out that local voters are split along Congressional District lines between the districts represented by Democratic U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown and Republican U.S. Rep. Ted Yoho. Both of Gainesville’s congressional representatives “hold rather centrist political views,” according to the site, while many local residents identify as Republican. Since 1992, however, it’s the Democratic presidential candidates who have won the popular vote in the city and the surrounding county.
Livability.com didn’t just compile a top 10 list of the best cities for centrists. It did the same for conservatives and liberals too.
To compile its lists, Livability.com looked at the ideology of cities’ congressional representatives, how residents self-reported their personal political leanings and county-level voting splits from the 2012 presidential election. The Livability.com team even helped come up with certain goods that are favored more by one side or the other of the political spectrum and then searched for where people used them most heavily.
The website listed some of the things Gainesville residents are likely to do in its list, which include driving a Cadillac, eating at Hardee’s, watching “The Bachelorette” and shopping at Sam’s Club. (In case you’re wondering, Hardee’s and Cadillacs are apparently popular among centrists while conservatives prefer “The Bachelorette” and Sam’s Club more than liberals do, according to Livability.com.)
The city that bested Gainesville and the other centrist-friendly cities on Livability.com’s Top 10 list, however, was Spokane Valley, Washington.
As for Livability.com’s No. 1 best cities for liberals and conservatives, those were Berkeley, California and Alabaster, Alabama, respectively.
The only other Florida city that made any of Livability.com’s three lists was Crestview, which ranked as the second-best city in the U.S. for conservatives.
For an easy-to-skim list of the top cities, check out this Mediaite post.