From United Van Lines:

…United has tracked shipment patterns annually on a state-by-state basis since 1977. For 2007, the accounting is based on the 212,917 interstate household moves handled by United among the 48 contiguous states, as well as Washington, D.C. In its study, United classifies each state in one of three categories — “high inbound” (55% or more of moves going into a state); “high outbound” (55% or more of moves coming out of a state); or “balanced.” Although the majority of states were in the “balanced” category last year, several showed more substantial population shifts…

The map:

Hmmmm, looks familiar. Here’s the 2004 electoral college map:

But what about heavily Dem states in New England? The United Van Lines map shows just “high” in/outbound states, but they provide more detailed info here. CT, RI, MA and ME (all of New England except VT and NH) saw net migration out. Same goes for WI and CA.

Well, lets just go to a regression. The graph below shows % of 2007 United Van Lines Customers Moving to the State (x) versus % of popular vote for Bush in 2004 (y).

β = 0.43 - not a bad correlation for social science. We haven’t weighted the regression for population, but the outliers are mostly small population states. That point outlined in red in the upper left is ND (49th biggest). The one outlined in red to bottom right is VT (50th). (Take VT and ND out and β goes to 0.66.)

Speaking of ND, its worth noting that while it was the 2nd biggest net departure state its neighbor SD was a top 10 destination. ND has a state income tax, SD doesn’t.  In fact, all 8 of the states without a state income tax were net destination states in 2007. (AK also has no state income tax, but UVL provides no migration data for that state.)

Who can say where the cause/effect, correlation/causation is? But we can make one confident observation based on these data: if you moved from one state to another in 2007, its very likely you were moving away from a state populated by DNC voters and to a state populated by people who vote GOP.

This all makes perfect sense if you believe people prefer freer economic jurisdictions - as illustrated by ongoing mass migrations out of the socialist EU, “long vacations” and “free healthcare” notwithstanding.