Why do so many conservatives in the US bash on California all the time?

Learn the phrase and see it everywhere: negative partisanship. XBOX vs PS vs Nintendo vs mobile, Mac vs MS vs Linux, Rep vs Dem, white vs black, old vs young, etc. etc. etc. Stupid people love signalling to their ingroup how loyal they are by attacking the outgroup.

California is a big, shiny, undeniable counter-point to everything they claim is bad about liberalism.

More people choose to live here than anywhere else (in America) and we have more money than anyone else because our economy is more productive than anywhere else (in America).

It's California. Go anywhere in the world and say the word "California" and they'll know what you're talking about, even if they don't speak English.

California is concrete proof that liberalism isn't some failed ideology and they REALLY don't like that. Hell, we're responsible for some of these conservative states even existing, as they siphon money from us because we pay WAY more to the federal government than any other state.

Conservatives don't have a state as successful as California. And even most of their large cities are liberal.

It's hate based in jealousy.

Perceived as most left-leaning of the states , wen any one who knows just a little past surface level about USian politics , they'll realise there's no true "left-leaning" state lol

California is strictly better than every red state in almost every measure. They literally hate it because it directly disproves their worldview that conservatives are good for the economy.

An often overlooked aspect is that much of the rural US is experiencing pretty aggressive gentrification. "California" is the nebulous word used to describe that process by conservatives because actual understanding and contextualizing is "woke".

California being the stand in word due to the socio-economic reasons already stated.

If California is allowed to look good, then it hurts the credibility of their ideology.

I think there are some criticisms about Californians leaving the state raising housing prices in their own state. That’s just how supply and demand works though when the supply of houses suddenly becomes more limited in your area.

They like to say things along the lines of: “Californians messed up their own state with their high taxes, fled here, are driving all the prices up, and are now trying to bring their fAiLeD PoLiTiCs to the state.” The real answer is that California is such a desirable place to live that there are not enough houses and well paying jobs to go around. People leave the state because of unregulated capitalist pressures, not because of the state’s strong social programs.

It’s not just Californians moving to other states that are driving prices up. Housing prices going up is also caused by private equity firms buying up available properties, a slowdown on building new houses capping supply, people from other states moving, and Not In My Backyard people trying to prevent lower cost housing in their towns since they don’t want the price of their house to ever drop.

Having strong social programs in their own states could actually help mitigate the impact of prices going up for housing as well as for other goods and services. For instance, they could have their own state provided healthcare coverage to help them have guaranteed healthcare. They could have better public transportation systems so they are not so car reliant to get to work. Rent controls in place to mitigate landlords pricing people out of the area. Affordable housing construction. Even things like public utilities could be offered for less by the state for gas, electricity, phone, and internet.

I get the sense places like California and New York are seen as the homes of the rich elite. Which, they are - because that’s where everyone wants to live. Conservatives miss that they’re also the homes of hundreds of thousands of oppressed working class like themselves who also hate those rich elites, because states are big places.

There’s also racism. They hate sanctuary cities because they go against their narrative that immigrants are destroying America. (Signed, a white guy living in a sanctuary city that is proud of its low crime rate)

I get the sense places like California and New York are seen as the homes of the rich elite.
And then they elected a born rich New York elite man-child. Twice.
Not a bright bunch.

It's heavily featured in Fox and other conservative ~~propaganda~~ media. So is the pacific northwest... my god, my dad will not stop talking about the homeless hordes of seattle or whatever.

TBH Texas and Florda are portrayed similarly in many leftist tabloids. Speaking as someone who has recently leaved in both, yes, they are conservative dystopias, but not uniformly and not like news would lead you to believe.

There are just blowing up grains of truth.

my dad will not stop talking about the homeless hordes of seattle or whatever.
Californian here. I would rather live with the homeless than live in a conservative shithole state. Yeah, there's homeless. But I'm also living in world-renowned California.
- There's some pretty great stuff here in Texas (and Florida). But they aren't shitholes. It's mostly not that bad, and not that conservative.
  ...There are homeless hordes here, too.
  Regions have their shit politics and weaknesses, but what's on tabloids is a caricature of what its like on the ground.

Because the entire concept of conservatism is based on having enemies.

California is successful. It is the strongest economy of the US, and one of the strongest economies in comparison to other, complete, countries. And it dares not to be Republican!

On the other hand, most Republican states could not survive without federal handouts, mostly supplied by more successful Democratic states.

It is envy, plain and simple.

Fear of the unknown. The unknown, in this case, is some semblance of a functioning society.

It holds a level of cultural and economic dominance over much of the country to the point where it can often feel similar to how America does to Europeans.

They make our art, they grow our food, and they represent us on a cultural stage to the world. And for a lot of middle America you will never be able to afford to move there, but some of your neighbors and friends will, and they'll love it.

There's a lot of sour grapes in California hate, because Iowa, Missouri, ohio, etc know they're flyover states, they know they're never going to be the powerhouses that California is. So you watch your Los Angeles media on a Silicon Valley device eating your San Joaquin vegetables thinking about your childhood friend who couldn't take it here and got into a UC and never moved back. There's some bitterness if you left your small town, but if you didn't even manage that…

You're thinking of educated people, the people who hate California could never think things that far through. They are the uneducated masses who eat up what fox news sells them, and then regurgitate it. They've never talked to a minority or someone outside their economic class. They know their small reality, and can't conceptualize a society bigger or more complex than that.
I think you hit the nail perfectly on the head
i say living on the west coast after I escaped the drudgery that is the Midwest
- Having gotten roped back into the southeast for a bit, FUCK YOU, COMMIE!
they wont be powerhouses if they keep voting for the gop.
- I agree. California has a great geographical advantage, but it's not what makes the state so attractive to live in.
  People don't like a cloistered lifestyle unless they've lived in it their entire lives. This means that new people considering moving to 'flyover states' have to contend with the local tribe that has been conned into thinking abortion kills babies and immigrants are sent by the devil.
  It's extremely difficult to break this trend, but I think we should be doing what we can to reach those who didn't have the opportunities we did.
- They weren't going to be powerhouses regardless, but yes, voting for Republicans is fucking their economies. But there's nothing thats going to make Des Moines the San Francisco of the plains, nor Cincinnati the San Diego of the Midwest . The great lakes region is slowly rebuilding from the catastrophic loss of manufacturing. Coal isn't coming back and there's not much else for money in west Virginia.
  Some of these cities might rise again someday, but there's a reason people dream of the west coast and not Minneapolis or Chicagoland (though Chicagoland does rock, and so do Cleveland and Minnesota)

The people who tell conservatives what to think have indicated that California is bad. Why is it bad? They made some progress on a few things, and we can’t have that. It’s why we can’t have nice things like affordable healthcare and breathable air.

Breathable air? That's just another commodity to sell to the masses. Like shelter. And water. And food.
If they could sell us sunlight, they would do it without a second thought.
- also we dont have the AI data centers polluting our states, like many red states have right now.

Because caring for the environment and creating social programs is scary to them.

The entire answer is "propaganda"

fox is mostly to blame, followed by the grifters.

right wing propaganda from MSMs, like fox. they are also hyprocites because many of them live like in nevada, and thier entire business is inside CALIFORNIA. for eg, i used to followed some asian ytubers, they moved to LAS VEGAS or reno over the pandemic but they rail on california, called it woke, but thier base is in california los angelas. and then they were whining about the lack of community culture for POCs in VEGAS, healthcare and school. also one of them was caught by california EDD laws, for mislabeling thier employees as contractors,1099 instead of full time employees. he was literally asking the incel viewers how to EVADE and commit fraud to get away with it.

They hate us because they ain't us.

For the same reason liberals bash on Texas all the time: it’s a flagship state for the political brand that’s an easy target due to its size and problems (due to its size).

They jelly of that economy

"B-but everyone is leaving California!!1!"
To the people saying this: yeah, dream on. Step away from the hard right-wing media and look around. It's a myth.
Yes there are some people leaving the state for places like Texas and Florida (sorry, but fuck knows why!). But there are still a ton of people here in CA, there are still people moving here, and there are still kids being born here. We are a loooong way from a mass exodus of economy crippling proportions.
- Yeah, as a Californian the "mass exodus" propaganda was hilarious.

Everybody loves finding things in common with other people.

Since California is percieved by the right to be a "liberal stronghold", it is easy for them to bond over a shared hatred of it. Regardless of whether or not that hate is based in fact.

both cali and NY. they probably dont know that are many blue states than just new york and california.

In integral part of conservative ideology is hatred and California's been a target for decades. When the acceptance of gays became too widespread they switched to hatred and vilification of transgender Americans. When the general population gets tired of listening to them screech about that they'll find someone/something else. For some reason they don't get tired of whining about CA.

and many of them hypocrites, some of them do business in california because thats where the market is.

Because California stands for many, many, many, many of the things they oppose without evidence to back up their claims: Supporting LGBTQ+, better Social programs, limited religious freedoms, run by a bunch of "liberals", etc. etc.

And yet, it's the 5th largest economy in the world, and the vast, overwhelming, majority of funds for the USA.

They hate that California works, because it disproves pretty much all of their talking points.

nevada, texas which has no income taxes have so many problems because of it, republicans suckered in by this "FREE money state' its only worth it if you are very wealthy yourself.
- Nevada and texas are both shitholes. They exist to exploit workers who don't know any better and have bought into a lie sold to them by rich people.
4th largest*

They're sheep

Because Fox News tells them too

Propaganda is a hell of drug.

What’s crazy is that, by pure numbers, CA is basically tied with FL as having the second most republicans in the country—at around 6 million.* Only TX has them both beat. Conservatives really do shit on the 2nd/3rd largest enclave of republicans in the country 🤣

*Based on the 2024 US election turnout—not registered republicans

CA republicans hate California just as much
- As a Californian I've spent decades watching CA Republicans whine about California then...stay.
  I just laugh in their faces now. You're here because it's California and you know it's good. I'm not going to entertain their empty whining. I'll just laugh at them while they enjoy the weather and all the other cool shit they complain about.
- Many of them briefly leave, hate it and then come back and continue to talk about how much they hate California. And to them I say: please leave, we have enough people as it is.
Imagine what California could accomplish without having to fight the rural Republican anchor dragging shit down constantly due to their propaganda.
its also because many moved to those 2 states recently

From what I can tell from up in Canada, it's a more 'liberal' leaning state according to their metric and they don't like that.

Bingo.
they think its a hellhole, because of all the homeless and junkies, but they arnt telling the whole truth when red states are the ones putting them on buses to MA, NYC, WASHINGTON, california, also whining about the income taxes, property taxes.

I would guess most midwesterners have not been, so they dont know the reality of the place. So anyone can say it's full of bad people and they won't bat an eye.

It’s easy to hate and fear the “other” - not just a conservative thing, though I do think they’re a bit more vitriolic about it.
- Totally agree, both sides are made to keep us content. You are right that we need to be vigilant of both narratives.

Lookng at Cali might give them cognitive dissonance so they get upset like the mean dumb goblins they are.

It represents everything they hate. CA ain't perfect, but it's got a lot of good stuff going for it. Especially that monster economy.

I like to rag on our state to the south friend-o, but it's outta love for the pnw. You keep doing you because it fucking pisses off the Pedo Party and that's awesome.

also because the state is safe for woman , POC AND lgbtq+ people.

Since nobody here is giving any actual reasons and just putting up straw men, let me give you the real reasons.

Crowded and high cost of living.

And because politics, those two points extend into lots of homeless (crowded) and "liberal initiatives" (cost of living). But it's always rooted into crowded and high cost of living.

But what about large cities in the red states? Yes, the same is said of those. Crowded and high cost of living.

Why is it crowded there? It's expensive because it's crowded, so why is it so crowded? Do people actually want to live there or something?
- As my dad said after moving to San Francisco "It's expensive here because it's worth it"
These are "I don't want to live there" reasons. The hate for California that right-wingers have is "this place shouldn't exist" type hate.
The OP asked about the state, not cities. There is a ton of cheap land here. There are also tons of different sized cities with different housing costs.
You said others were offering straw men? What is this?
What conservatives alsp forget is their own system of capitalism they worship is what drives its high cost of living. People want to live there. If there wasn't a demand to live there, cost of living would lower.
More homeless are seen in the west coast states also because the climate is more hospitable, and the governments and people a little more so, too. Also because right-wing media magnify the problem.
- also because red states purposely bus them to blue states,

I've never been to Alabama but I'll still shit on it because I've seen statistics and stories about how bad it is there. Same with Republicans. California is definitely one of the better states to live in by most metrics but it does have huge wealth inequality combined with its large population means there's no shortage of people in poverty and statistics and stories from that group that fox News can shove in the face of there audience and pretend that's how everyone in California is living.

I've been to Alabama. I have family in Alabama. I will say it's probably worse than you think in many ways.

They hate the proof that their ideas suck and the ones they fight work, even when you fuck it up kinda badly.

I'm on some outdoor forums and the most common complaints I hear about "Commiefornia" relate to gun control. They like their guns, and despise anyone who tries to interfere with that. The rest is mostly side issues.

I live in CA and every time I go camping in the Sierra Nevada I can hear people popping off shots nearby. These low IQ conservatives from elsewhere think guns are banned here or something. They are not.
- Guns aren't banned in CA but the laws are stricter here than in some other states. There's also an element of yuppie elitism associated with the gun control advocates (and Democrats in general) which doesn't go over with the gun crowd either. I've been wanting to look at the book "Dignity" by Chris Arnade which is supposed to be helpful in understanding this.
Why are so many USian against gun control?
I live in Europe. I can own handguns, semiauto rifles, including assault types and other sporting/hunting guns. I cannot modify them.
Magazines are limited to 3 rounds, although procuring/3D printing larger ones is trivial, but if I get caught with one + the rifle, I'm are fucked.
I have to pass a physical and psych test.
I must attend a course which is essentially gun discipline and safety.
My guns are registered, Including ballistic samples.
If I sell a gun the police must be notified, and the buyer vetted.
My guns must be kept in a locked, approved, gun locker.
When in a car, the gun must be in a carry box, in the trunk, and munitions in the glove box.
Except for some details please explain how this is fundamentally different from owning and driving a car.
- Because Murica that's why, They equate control to restriction. Which is Projection
- Because a lot of them know that if there was any kind of safety or training requirements, or a psyche or physical test, they would fail it.

I'm not conservative but the last time i was in LA precovid it was actually a really shit place. Streets were gross, homeless everywhere, insane wealth disparity and so much sprawl. Food was 11/10. The economy probably wouldnt be what it is without silicon valley.