How many Libertarians are there?

June 30, 2005 7:21 PM

Which state has the most (big "L") Libertarians?

What I'm hoping for is a breakdown, state by state, of how many people are registered in each political party. Failing that, a list of roughly how many Libertarians are registered in each state.

posted by joshuaconner to law & government (13 comments total)

Also: thanks!

Sorry to comment on my own post, but I thought it was important.
posted by joshuaconner at 7:50 PM on June 30, 2005

I don't think you'll find that count. Not every state has people register by party. Washington, for example.
posted by croutonsupafreak at 8:02 PM on June 30, 2005

Maybe not quite what you're looking for, but the Free State Project accumulated some data along these lines while trying to determine which state would make the best launching ground for the project.
posted by Galvatron at 8:45 PM on June 30, 2005

I'm gonna hazard a wild guess based on my own travels and say Texas. Yeah, you heard me. Texas.
posted by realcountrymusic at 8:56 PM on June 30, 2005

I would guess Texas too. The most Small-L libertarians per capita would probably be New Hampshire or Montana.
posted by Saucy Intruder at 9:08 PM on June 30, 2005

Why don't you write to someone at the national Libertarian organization and ask for some figures? Surely they keep track of these things.
posted by aladfar at 9:27 PM on June 30, 2005

The most Small-L libertarians per capita would probably be New Hampshire or Montana.

Don't forget Poland Alaska!
posted by kindall at 9:48 PM on June 30, 2005

Top three:

1. Alaska
2. Arizona
3. California


.. at least that's according to a Libertarian party press release from 1999.
posted by tozturk at 10:08 PM on June 30, 2005

Alaska. Damn, I forgot Alaska. No way I believe California has more Libertarians than Texas. But then, the last time I really took stock of the situation was in the early 90s.
posted by realcountrymusic at 5:14 AM on July 1, 2005

Indiana, for whatever reason, seems to have a fairly large population of the "eliminate all taxes and privatize everything" flavor of Libertarian.
posted by Thorzdad at 7:35 AM on July 1, 2005

sorry, I'm not trying to hijack, but what's the difference between "big L" and "small l" libertarians?
posted by donnagirl at 8:01 AM on July 1, 2005

"Small l" libertarians are people who think they share most libertarian beliefs, but aren't members of the party for whatever reason. Usually this reason is to distance themselves from some of the more insane Libs.

"Big L" would be full on members of the libertarian party.
posted by zerolives at 9:10 AM on July 1, 2005

No way I believe California has more Libertarians than Texas

Silicon Valley has many (Ayn Rand-ish) libertarian types. Also, CA has ~150% the registered voters of TX. And there are a lot of people in TX who are deeply, deeply opposed the social liberty part of the platform. So it's not that surprising to me.

Here's a claim that Santa Clara county has the second-highest number registered Libertarians of counties nationwide (though the 95,000 number is surely wrong.. maybe 9,500, or the statewide number).
posted by fleacircus at 12:14 PM on July 1, 2005