And finally tonight some domestic politics
A look at the intensifying clash
between red and blue America
Few places reflect the growing political chasm as
does the state of Wisconsin
and in particular
metropolitan Milwaukee-
home to an engaged electorate
and deep racial, social, and
economic divisions.
Gwen traveled there this past week...
50 years ago we had that battle
Why are we fighting it again?
Lifelong Milwaukee resident Earl Ingram
lives on one side of the divide
Earl Ingram: Wisconsin has had
a terrible history
like many other states, in this
in this country
of not being fair when it comes
to people of color.
Not just here, but across the nation.
With the conservative reality
that has come back.
Keith Best, who left the city
for the suburbs
in his 30s
lives on the other.
Keith Best: I saw our jobs
were leaving,
I saw our taxes were going up.
and I saw the school system was failing.
And that's why I moved on to Waukesha
Best and Igram are from essentially
the same place--
Battleground, Wisconsin--
minutes away from one another in distance,
but miles away in their politics.
In Milwaukee's neighborhood named Coffee
Coffe Makes you black
the topic was how to curb the neighborhood violence.
Thirty children have been shoot in the city
only this year.
It is politics it takes
it takes every single resource
that we have not out of not on te
rigt here in Milwaukee
By contract, the republican Congressman
James S Community own all a few miles away
the hot topic was immigration.
I believe there is no only humanitarian crisis,
but it is a national security crisis.
The audience-- black and white,
Democrats and Republicans,
urban and suburban,
reflects a sober truth.
Residents of Metropolitan Milwaukee,
once home to independent thinkers,
no longer view the world through the same lens.
The City of Milvokee, its majority and minority,
56% of Black and Hispanic
But te minoity poulation in the surrounding
suburbs is somewhere in the single digits.
And here, in Southeastern Wisconsin,
it goes way beyond race--
to social, economic, and partisan segregation.
Milwaukee suburbs are almost reder than
anywhere else outside of South.
who tracked Wisconsin's growing polarization
in the four-part series for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Said the split in 2012.
That is when effort to recall the Republican governor,
Scott Walker,
draw the record partisan turnout
in the blue cities Milwaukee and Madison.
as well as in the red suburbs accoss
around both.
It is just do devisive! I mean it is all
about how you feel, how he has governed the state
over past four or fie years.
And every piece of evidence tat we have is that
it is almost right down the middle.
One example: Republicans give Walker
95% of approval rating.
ident ObamaAmong Democrates, Preso
It is just a tough situation. Good question. I can't answer that.
It could determine outcome for years.
HOw typical is this divide for the rest of the country.
In 1994, just 20 years ago, carrried