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One thing continues to puzzle me about the current political landscape in the US, as witnessed by Mitt Romney's recent comments about Obama's "gifts" allowing him to win the election. With many on the right attempting to cut back on the social safety net because of a large number of perceived "takers" who live on government handouts, one would think that the regions that vote Democratic would be where most of the recipients of these government handouts live. In fact, the data shows the opposite. The attached spreadsheet shows the percentage of the population that receives food stamps as compared to how each state voted. Of the 16 states with >15% of the population on food stamps, 12 voted Republican and only 4 voted Democrat. Of the 13 states with <10% of the population on food stamps, 8 voted Democrat and only 5 Republican. The map of poverty across the US shows that persistent poverty is almost exclusively concentrated in the "Red" states, and the staunch "Blue" states in the northeast are almost completely empty on this map. Can anyone explain to me why the regions most dependent on government largesse are the ones most opposed to continuing it?