Dear David Leonhardt, When comparing liberal and conservative cities, using Austin, Charlotte and Nashville in the latter group doesn't bolster your case. Best, Retiring Guy

 

New York Times

From David Leonhardt's "This Morning" email newsletter:

In the country’s most liberal cities, many people are still avoiding restaurants. The number of seated diners last month was at least 40 percent below prepandemic levels in New York, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, San Francisco, Portland, Ore., and Cambridge, Mass., according to OpenTable. By contrast, the number of diners has fully recovered in Las Vegas, Miami, Nashville, Phoenix, Charlotte, N.C., and Austin, Texas, as well as in Oklahoma, Nebraska and New Hampshire.