The socio-economic correlates of political ideology

I quote the following description of the above map from the Pew Research Center's "Chart of the Week":

This map, part of an interactive series developed by Measure of America (a project of the Social Science Research Council) aims to summarize people’s well-being with a single indicator: the American Human Development Index. The darker a state is colored on the map, the higher its score..... 

(T)he American HDI uses four indicators to summarize three overarching goals: leading a long and healthy life (measured by life expectancy at birth), having access to knowledge (measured by school enrollment and adults’ educational attainment) and having a decent material standard of living (measured by median wage and salary earnings).

Compare the map with the presidential vote in 2012:

.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choropleth_map#sthash.1oi0b63D.dpuf

There is an obvious correlation. The blue states are more likely to have high values of the Human Development Index, the red states are more likely to have low values. Of course the 2012 blue states (California, New York, Florida, Pennsylvania, Illinois, etc.) are far more populous than the red states.

Those who vote democratic are more likely to be urban, relatively well off economically, longer lived and more educated than those in the red states. I suspect that this is another example of "where you stand depends on where you sit".