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Oklahoma doesn't look like the majority of the South, but the people have more in common with Mississippians. It's quite a conservative and Bible Belt-ish state, and you'll definitely find southern characteristics around Tulsa and the eastern part of the state. Oklahoma City didn't really strike me as southern when I visited, though.
I just returned from Tulsa, after helping my sister, dad, and stepmom relocate to Tulsa from Southern California. I really liked Tulsa. It's a well laid out city with all the amenities one would need. And the surrounding countryside is pretty, much prettier than I had expected, what with all the rolling hills covered in thick forest (mainly coming into Tulsa on I-44). But I didn't come across too many strong, Southern accents in Tulsa like I did in southeastern Oklahoma. My mom's side of the family originated near Poteau (in Monroe, which is not really even a city). And during this last visit, I visited Poteau and Monroe, and I was struck by how in-your-face the accents were (compared to Tulsa). Granted, I didn't explore every corner of Tulsa, and probably only sampled a very small section of the whole city, but over the course of my stay, I heard very few strong accents. I know Tulsa has a huge transplant population, so maybe I brushed up against more transplants than original Tulsans. But in Poteau and in all the neighboring towns and hamlets, the accents are strongly Southern. And you see many confederate flags in front of houses and in pick-up truck rear windows. That is definitely a 'Dixie' part of Oklahoma.
Oklahoma has some Western culture, but it's very diluted, even more so then Texas or Western Kansas. Most of Oklahoma is more similar to Mississippi. I'd argue its a transition area much like Texas. But most Oklahomans trace their roots South and consider themselves Southern. I'd argue that Southern Kansas shares a lot of similarities with Oklahoma due to influences over the last decades. Northern Kansas remains very Midwestern and most can trace their heritage to Northern states. New Mexico is similar, most whites who settled in New Mexico were northerners or Texans, a lot of Southerners didn't have the means to relocate for decades after the civil war. Most of my ancestors stopped here in Eastern Kansas during the Free State movement, but many ended up traveling farther west over time. No matter what, American culture is becoming more homogeneous and the differences are getting smaller and smaller. My grandfather had an absolute hatred for Missourians, Arkansans, and Oklahomans, but I don't think anyone really feels like that anymore.
The best thing about this thread and the genius of the OP's query is that it really compares the two main competing regions for Oklahoma's soul: the South and the Southwest. It is a strong mixture of those two overarching cultures.
That's why I always have to grin the few times that Oklahoma (like Arkansas and Texas) is lumped in with the Midwest because it has little to no cultural connection with true Midwest states with the exception of transplant Yankee oil barons coming to Tulsa in the early 20th century. Oklahoma is too far South and just too far West.
The OP implicitly gets Oklahoma right: SouthXSouthwest.
Oklahoma has some Western culture, but it's very diluted, even more so then Texas or Western Kansas. Most of Oklahoma is more similar to Mississippi. I'd argue its a transition area much like Texas. But most Oklahomans trace their roots South and consider themselves Southern. I'd argue that Southern Kansas shares a lot of similarities with Oklahoma due to influences over the last decades. Northern Kansas remains very Midwestern and most can trace their heritage to Northern states. New Mexico is similar, most whites who settled in New Mexico were northerners or Texans, a lot of Southerners didn't have the means to relocate for decades after the civil war. Most of my ancestors stopped here in Eastern Kansas during the Free State movement, but many ended up traveling farther west over time. No matter what, American culture is becoming more homogeneous and the differences are getting smaller and smaller. My grandfather had an absolute hatred for Missourians, Arkansans, and Oklahomans, but I don't think anyone really feels like that anymore.
Missouri isn't Southern for the most part. Most of the state is Midwestern.
If Texas is its own mini-America, then Oklahoma is its mini-Canada--a smaller, quieter, copycat version of Texas, just like how Canada is a smaller, quieter, copycat of America.
I think the point of the thread is that Oklahoma is obviously more similar to Texas or Kansas than either New Mexico or Mississippi. The author is asking this because it is more interesting to think about than just stating the obvious. To me, Oklahoma is more similar to Mississippi. It is more Southern than it is Southwestern. Much of it is influenced by Baptist Bible Belt culture, not Spanish/Hispanic Catholic culture.
Eastern Oklahoma: Mississippi
Western Oklahoma: New Mexico
This is right on the money.
I just got back from New Mexico. Eastern New Mexico is pretty much like the Texas panhandle which is somewhat like western Oklahoma.
The main difference is that western Oklahoma is hillier and gets more rain and has more farmland than the other two areas. By the time you get to New Mexico it's dry enough that it is all pretty much ranchland.
Culturally western Oklahoma has a much greater hispanic influence over the last 20 years.
Oklahoma doesn't have near enough African American presence to be all that similar to Mississippi culturally but the anglo culture and native American culture in eastern Oklahoma might be similar. The very southeastern corner of Oklahoma is somewhat similar to Mississippi in almost every regard. In fact I've seen maps of the "deep south" that include the two most southeastern counties in Oklahoma. I'd say that those two counties are more like the deep south than they are the rest of the counties in the state of Oklahoma.
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