The piece doesn’t frame this as “affluent liberals” leaving. It explicitly says the wave used to be “super-adventurous and well-credentialed,” but now it’s “ordinary people,” including small-business owners, remote workers, retirees and people on Social Security/disability, families moving with kids, and students chasing affordable degrees. Politically it’s not one-sided either: it says Trump’s re-election mattered for some, while noting others who left actually voted for him. So the signal is broad-based cost/safety/lifestyle arbitrage, not a partisan flight.