How come Mitchell County Iowa never voted majority Republican since 1984 but has approved strongly now of Trump? (buy)

[Siberiaboy]

It’s a curious case of a county that has sharply switched parties in 2016, with a loss of a large number of Democratic voters and a partial gain from those voters to Trump’s campaign.

Is it the jobs and buy American promise that’s doing this? Or is it something more local that doesn’t get much mention?

What’s different about Mitchell County is it holds a national title for the highest Caucasian demographic concentration to vote for progressive candidates (most Liberal non-minority grouping in the USA), so it’s not a county you can say well this is rural America it always goes for the party of less Govt... no that wasn’t what the data shows ....but that spell has been cracked beginning with the current president.

[Tyryztoll]

I think your answer may be found in the reality that the term "progressive" gets misused to the point of blatant contradiction in correlation with political viewpoint. People who may have voted liberal in the past are becoming frightened by the democratic party's drift into leftist radicalism and as such are realizing there's nothing "progressive" about that sort of thinking when it comes to maintaining a civil and stable democracy.....which many of them still favor, partisanship aside. In short, they're unwilling to stay in the democratic boat as it goes off the deep end and have chosen instead to jump ship.

[ServoMiff]

Originally Posted by Tyryztoll

I think your answer may be found in the reality that the term "progressive" gets misused to the point of blatant contradiction in correlation with political viewpoint. People who may have voted liberal in the past are becoming frightened by the democratic party's drift into leftist radicalism and as such are realizing there's nothing "progressive" about that sort of thinking when it comes to maintaining a civil and stable democracy.....which many of them still favor, partisanship aside. In short, they're unwilling to stay in the democratic boat as it goes off the deep end and have chosen instead to jump ship.

This seems like a logical answer. However, there's nothing about Biden that screams socialist. Had we been talking about Bernie, then absolutely. There's a reason Trump wanted to face Bernie in the election, because he knew he could win that easily.

I am a centrist who has no problem voting bipartisan or third party in elections, and to me (I'm not from that county or Iowa, but just for another perspective from what I believe that area to represent which is similar to my beliefs) I can't fathom voting for a guy like Trump whose sole intent is power for himself and wielding that power to get what he wants. The disrespect for the office and to even suggest that he might try to stay in office more than two terms was enough to keep me from even considering him.

I see Trump as an extremist pandering to the far-right, and Sanders and others as pandering to the far-left. Both extremes scare me. I want civility, law and order AND for people of all different backgrounds to be treated equally. I don't see Biden as threatening any of those things - and see Trump as sowing discontent and division which threatens civility and law and order because of the taunting of the opposite extremes through force rather than working on building a peaceful accord.

I fear our divisions have become like a heated sports rivalry. We have our sides we pick and no matter how corrupt or squeaky clean our teams are, we will still cheer for them no matter what. Except, the future of our country is not a football game.

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by Tyryztoll

I think your answer may be found in the reality that the term "progressive" gets misused to the point of blatant contradiction in correlation with political viewpoint. People who may have voted liberal in the past are becoming frightened by the democratic party's drift into leftist radicalism and as such are realizing there's nothing "progressive" about that sort of thinking when it comes to maintaining a civil and stable democracy.....which many of them still favor, partisanship aside. In short, they're unwilling to stay in the democratic boat as it goes off the deep end and have chosen instead to jump ship.

Absolutely well stated.

I think any rational Democrat will see that the "progressives" (like AOC, Bernie) with their wild, unaffordable ideas, caused them to lose a lot in the election. I hope Biden doesn't bow down to them, but I'm araid he will. His VP is one of them.

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by ServoMiff

This seems like a logical answer. However, there's nothing about Biden that screams socialist. Had we been talking about Bernie, then absolutely. There's a reason Trump wanted to face Bernie in the election, because he knew he could win that easily.

I am a centrist who has no problem voting bipartisan or third party in elections, and to me (I'm not from that county or Iowa, but just for another perspective from what I believe that area to represent which is similar to my beliefs) I can't fathom voting for a guy like Trump whose sole intent is power for himself and wielding that power to get what he wants. The disrespect for the office and to even suggest that he might try to stay in office more than two terms was enough to keep me from even considering him.

I see Trump as an extremist pandering to the far-right, and Sanders and others as pandering to the far-left. Both extremes scare me. I want civility, law and order AND for people of all different backgrounds to be treated equally. I don't see Biden as threatening any of those things - and see Trump as sowing discontent and division which threatens civility and law and order because of the taunting of the opposite extremes through force rather than working on building a peaceful accord.

I fear our divisions have become like a heated sports rivalry. We have our sides we pick and no matter how corrupt or squeaky clean our teams are, we will still cheer for them no matter what. Except, the future of our country is not a football game.

I see Trump as maybe 25%, where 0 is far right, and 100% is extreme left. Bernie and AOC and their ilk are pretty much 99.9%. Biden is probably in the mid-80s already, and hopefully will go no farther left, but I'm afraid he will.