This wins the prize for the funniest headline today. So, smart young people leave Mississippi, leaving behind idiots who vote Republican.

For most states, population growth is a slow boil. In Mississippi, it’s almost nonexistent. From 2000 to 2019, Mississippi’s overall population grew by less than 1 percent, according to census data.

Only four other states grew slower, or lost overall population. During the same period, Georgia’s took off, increasing by almost percent and further diversifying the state’s electorate.

Unlike in Georgia, many of Mississippi’s residents, and increasing millennials, leave the state each year, and there are few new arrivals to replace them.

That means any realignment in the state’s politics would require persuading existing residents to change their party allegiance — but there’s a question of how much ground is to be gained among conservative voters who place a high premium on candidates’ stances on abortion, taxes, guns and energy regulations.

[nbcnews.com]