Red and blue America intermingle a lot more than you might think

It’s useful, then, to remember that, for better or worse, the nation’s divides are not structured in the same way that they were in 1861. It makes no sense for red states to secede, for example, because most of those who voted for President Donald Trump last year live in blue ones. That may seem surprising in the abstract, but consider that Los Angeles County alone has more Trump voters than more than 600 of the least-populated red counties. At the county level, that contrast is lessened somewhat: only about 45 percent of Trump voters live in counties that voted for President Biden.