Conservative activist Charlie Kirk has claimed that living in higher buildings leads to people becoming more liberal.
“We have a huge housing crisis in our country, the likes of which we have not seen in a long period of time,” Mr Kirk said during an event hosted by Turning Point USA – Mr Kirk’s organisation pushing conservative ideas on high school and university campuses.
“I believe that we need to build horizontally, not vertically. It’s one of my speeches – developers don’t like it when I say this, but it’s true,” he added. “The higher the building, the more liberal the voter. It just is. The closer to the ground you are, the more conservative you are.
“We should encourage people to spread horizontally and not vertically. Look at Denver. The higher the high rises – has Denver become less free, or more free? It’s become a dystopian nightmare,” he claimed.
“Now, you might say, ‘Charlie, it’s a correlation with causation’. Think about it. If you’re on the 32nd floor, renting not owning, if you’re not in the weeds and in the yard and understanding what it takes to grow food and to maintain the land – are you gonna be more or less likely to actually be a conservative?” he asked.
“The higher the building, every single study shows, they become more liberal over time,” he said. “It’s happening in Phoenix, it’s happened in Denver, happened in Atlanta, happened in Dallas, happened in Chicago – everywhere, and yet few people actually say that out loud.”
While it’s unclear what studies Mr Kirk was referring to, The Atlantic staff writer Derek Thompson wrote in September 2019 that it’s “conceivable that living in a city might naturally promote ideologies that correspond with the modern Democratic Party”.
“The modern city brings its residents into constant interaction with the fact of, and necessity for, state intervention. Urban residents trade cars for public transit, live in neighborhoods with local trash codes, and deal with planning commissions about shadows, ocean views, and parking rights,” he added.
Mr Thompson noted that those who live in cities “are exquisitely sensitive to the consequences of individual behavior in a dense place where one man’s action is another man’s nuisance. As a result, residents of dense cities tend to reject libertarianism as unacceptable chaos and instead agitate for wiser governance related to health care, housing policy, and climate change”.
Many Twitter users mocked Mr Kirk, noting that former President Donald Trump has spoken about having the tallest building in New York.
“If I’m understanding this correctly, all the kids who move into their parents’ basements automatically become more conservative?” Rachel Barkow tweeted.
