Blue, Red State Broadband Penetration Mirrors Election Results

U.S. households continue to install broadband at a furious rate, according to a report released Wednesday. Curiously, the penetration of cable modem and DSL has been tracking state-by-state splits in the 2004 presidential election.

In its latest broadband report of what it calls "one of the fastest adopted services in U.S. history," the Leichtman Research Group noted that eight "Blue" states with broadband penetration over 35 percent had all voted for John Kerry while eleven "Red" states with broadband penetration at or below 20 percent all voted for George Bush in 2004.

"While these disparities are largely related to variations in household income across the states, these differences are strikingly similar to the state-by-state splits in the 2004 presidential election," said Bruce Leichtman, the market research firm's president and principal analyst, in a statement.

Leichtman's observations were included in his most recent quarterly report, which noted that nearly 29 percent of U.S. households now have broadband. He said cable and DSL providers combined to add nearly 4.4 million new broadband subscribers in the first half of the year.

DSL broadband deployment continued to top cable broadband installations in the latest quarter with 938,000 new DSL installations versus 866,000 for cable. However, cable broadband providers have a 6.4 million subscriber advantage, representing a nearly 60 percent market share Leichtman said.