A lot of blue states have both benefited from globalization and been hurt by it. For example a state like CT that has very high average income and very high levels of income inequality. In CT the top 1% saw large increases in income and there was growth in the number of professionals getting paid over $100K. The problem is that at the same time there was stagnation in the number of people getting paid between $100K and $50K and growth in the number of people getting paid less than $50K.
So stagnation of the middle, growth in the upper middle class and the rich. Growth in the number of poor.
There are a lot of problems going on that lead to this result. First off the state invests more than any other state in education. This large investment in education has been great for these individuals in the middle area but many of them are still not making it into the upper middle class in CT so they often move south where their education is more of an advantage. The poor are stuck. There are no jobs for them in CT because it is a high cost state, mostly due to things like land values, but they also don't seem to have the incentive or the capacity to move somewhere else. They are just comfortable enough with the aid they get and since they depend on aid they don't have a great incentive to move to a state that offers less aid.
