2 Ways to Define Conservative and Liberal and How R&D Spending Predicts How Communities Vote

In America, we use "conservative" in two main ways. One, to describe those who want less government. And two, for those who protect traditions and reject change.
Similarly, "liberal" covers both people who distrust wealth and corporations, and progressives who want society to evolve and improve, prioritizing quality of life and individual freedom over tradition.

New data on R&D spending as a percentage of state GDP supports the idea that conservatives resist novelty while progressives embrace it. States investing more in R&D, aiming to change the world, voted overwhelmingly for Biden in 2020. Conversely, states spending less on R&D favored Trump. The contrast is striking: the 10 states with the highest R&D spending voted for Biden by an average margin of 19 points, while the 10 states with the lowest R&D spending backed Trump by 18 points.

Data on the 10 states with the most and least R&D spending below.

Source for data here:
https://www.bea.gov/news/blog/2024-05-09/experimental-rd-value-added-statistics-us-and-states-now-available