Veteran Fox News anchor Laura Ingraham has joined the chorus of critics slamming a recent CNBC ranking that labeled several states as the “10 worst places to live,” predominantly targeting those led by Republicans.
The 63-year-old media personality made her views known on Tuesday regarding the contested ‘Quality of Life’ ranking.
Earlier in the week, a wave of disapproval came from politicians and pundits alike after the analysis drew controversy by considering criteria such as the ‘inclusivity’ of state laws and the ‘reproductive rights’ available to residents.
In a segment on her show, The Ingraham Angle, Laura Ingraham didn’t hesitate to highlight how each state on the controversial list favored Donald Trump in the 2024 Presidential Election.
The states singled out by CNBC, listed in order from the tenth-worst to the worst, include Arkansas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Missouri, Utah, Georgia, Louisiana, Indiana, Texas, and Tennessee.
The list itself was a subset of the network’s usual ‘America’s Top States for Business’ analysis.
An incredulous Ingraham highlighted how the new ‘Quality of Life’ list had included four of the top 10 states from that ranking.
‘How does that make any sense?’ she asked.
Laura Ingraham, 63, reacted to CNBC’s ’10 worst states to live in’ ranking on Tuesday, framing it as biased
Tennessee’s score suffered due to laws seen as discriminatory toward transgender people, leading some to make claims of liberal bias
‘They have kind of a weird calculus there, but this is obviously a blatant effort to denigrate more conservative states,’ she said. ‘But it’s really nothing new.’
A clip of Hillary Clinton bragging about winning ‘optimistic, diverse, dynamic, moving-forward’ states in 2016 – despite her loss to Trump – followed. Clinton also claimed Trump’s promise to ‘Make America Great Again’ was ‘looking backwards.’
Footage of New York Governor Kathy Hochul telling Trump to ‘head down to Florida’ during her successful campaign in 2022 came next.
A snippet from a May MS NOW segment featuring former Georgia Congresswoman Stacey Abrams rounded out the montage.
She was seen telling The Weeknight’s Michael Steele, ‘There are no longer blue states and red states. There are authoritarian states and democracy states,’ during a discussion that had been about the administration’s redistricting efforts.
Ingraham reacted by telling a not-present Abrams that the only ‘authoritarians’ were on her side of the proverbial aisle.
‘Those are your people,’ the host emphasized. ‘Who want to control what kind of car we drive and the settings even on our thermostats.’
An incredulous Ingraham highlighted how the new ‘Quality of Life’ list included four states from CNBC’s separate top ten best states for business, before asking ‘How does that make sense?’
Texas came in second place after receiving poor marks in criteria surrounding healthcare, inclusiveness, and reproductive rights. Along with Tennessee, it was the only state on the list with no income tax
Ingraham pointed to ‘the people’ who helped New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani get elected and pushed Graham Platner on the unsuspecting people of Maine.
‘They want you to believe that objective facts don’t matter,’ Ingraham declared.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis – whose state was also spared – similarly slammed the ranking as ‘nonsense’ in a Sunday post to X.
Oklahoma’s governor, Kevin Stitt, asked: ‘Why would “the worst states to live in” also be the states that the most people are moving to?’
Texas Congressman Lance Gooden brought up his state’s low cost of living and lack of a state income tax, after it received poor marks in healthcare, inclusiveness and reproductive rights.
Residents of Texas and Tennessee – states that ranked second-worst and worst, respectively – enjoy no state income tax.
Tennessee’s score suffered due to laws seen as discriminatory toward transgender people, as well as high rates of violent crime and fatal drug use, according to CNBC.
The Volunteer State boasts one of the top-ranked move-in markets in the country.
A law ‘requiring transgender people to use [bathroom] facilities designated for their sex at birth’ was also singled out as a negative, as was a bill signed into law by Governor Bill Lee last month that designated June ‘Nuclear Family Month.’
CNBC said the state ‘deliberately’ slighted celebrators of Pride.