From CED Broadband Direct:

Taking broadband into the sphere of politics, a new study from Leichtman Research Group Inc. indicates that service penetration is divided into "red states" and "blue states."

Although disparities are linked to variations in household income, LRG noted that eight states had broadband penetration over 35 percent, and all voted for John Kerry in 2004; and 11 states that voted for George Bush had penetration at or below 20 percent.

"Nationwide, broadband continues to be one of the fastest adopted services in U.S. history, but adoption is not yet consistent across all states," LRG President & Principal Analyst Bruce Leichtman said, in a release.

LRG's latest study, Broadband, Cable and DBS Across the U.S. 2005, found that the 20 largest cable and DSL providers in the U.S. had 94 percent of the high-speed market at the end of Q2 - equating to about 37.6 million subs.

In the period, DSL added 938,000 subs, or 52 percent of the net additions, while cable added 866,000. Overall, cable's top providers ended the quarter with 22 million high-speed subs, a 59 percent share of the market. DSL's top service providers combined for 15.5 million.