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So, my roots are down in the Driftless Area, and there are a few things going on there (some of which have been mentioned).
For one thing, much of the economy besides small-scale farming did rely on manufacturing and industry. You have places like Postville or Austin in or near the Driftless Area, for instance, which had lots of meatpacking.
You also do have the aforementioned "ex-urbanites," mostly wealthy retirees that lean liberal. They like buying houses on Lake Pepin, or in Lanesboro, or Iowa's "Wine Country," and starting hobby businesses. Sustainability and environmental savvy are big priorities for those people.
But I think we are overlooking that the Driftless Area was also a Catholic bastion-- a rare spot in the rural Midwest where that happened. Catholics voted reliably democrat until Republicans began to capitalize on abortion much more recently. The DFL in Minnesota was able to really mobilize the ethnic, immigrant Catholic vote in the southeast of the state.
There are probably other reasons, but I would have to think about it more...
Guns and hunting are also very big in most Midwest states in spite of the democratic leaning.
I do not understand this. Numerous Democratic politicians in many states have supported gun-friendly legislation in recent years. And the city of Detroit has voted Democrat since 1962, but I would not call that city progressive.
In Michigan, that was because of a Republican Governor that was catering to his base. It in now way represented the majority of the opinion of Michiganders. In fact, when the Governor discovered that most of the Republicans in the state did not appose gay marriage, he distanced himself from the Attorney General's case.
Most of Michigan's population is very progressive and July 9th was a huge day of celebration throughout the state.
That republican governor got elected for a reason, at the time of the election more people support his position than support the democratic one. Also I used to live up there and I still lived there when that marriage amendment was passed in the early 2000s. It passed with a HUGE majority. The people I know up there today are very much pro traditional marriage. Now I will acknowledge that none of the people I know up there live in Detroit or Ann Arbor or other liberal strongholds in that state. I am going to guess that if you saw the day of the court edict on gay marriage as a "day of celebration" you must have been near a college or other big liberal community. It has always been a well known fact that Michigan is a relatively socially conservative state on many issues, including the gay issue. I also think its fair to say that the Midwest in general can also be called socially conservative. Most democratic voting there is based on economic issues like support for unions or farm subsidies.
Well, those are some nice, sweeping generalizations for you. End the thread, guys, we have our answer!
Maybe you could elaborate upon what I said that you disagree with??? Do you disagree that the Midwest is socially conservative, or is it the statement that auto unions and farm subsidies are driving forces behind the sizable democratic voting population.
Polls like that showing new support for gay marriage have shown up around the country, even here in the conservative south. I wonder if they are accurate, or if they could be part of the agenda. If so then I guess that a huge number of Americans simply reversed their values in a ten year period?? I smell something fishy when it comes to these polls.
Polls like that showing new support for gay marriage have shown up around the country, even here in the conservative south. I wonder if they are accurate, or if they could be part of the agenda. If so then I guess that a huge number of Americans simply reversed their values in a ten year period?? I smell something fishy when it comes to these polls.
A lot of it has to do with the fact that many of the people who supported the traditional marriage amendment have simply died off.
And younger people tend to support gay marriage more than their elders. (Although, they are more pro-life than their elders as well, so let's not assume that they are going hard-left.)
Also, remember, we've been bombarded with pro-gay marriage propaganda (what else would you call it?) for years now. In some polls people think that gays represent 25% of the population, so yeah.....I don't know what you do about that, except turn off modern media - and even then, you really can't escape it.
Here in Detroit Metro, the papers and TV stations made a big deal of it when DeBoer and Rowse "got married" because they had one of the cases that was decided by the court in June. (gay adoption laws).
In a lot of ways, Michigan still is socially conservative and I'm willing to bet that if we had another vote on the Marriage Amendment, it would still pass. If it did go down, it would be by a squeaker, not an electoral blow out. People are still very divided on this issue.
A lot of it has to do with the fact that many of the people who supported the traditional marriage amendment have simply died off.
And younger people tend to support gay marriage more than their elders. (Although, they are more pro-life than their elders as well, so let's not assume that they are going hard-left.)
Also, remember, we've been bombarded with pro-gay marriage propaganda (what else would you call it?) for years now. In some polls people think that gays represent 25% of the population, so yeah.....I don't know what you do about that, except turn off modern media - and even then, you really can't escape it.
Here in Detroit Metro, the papers and TV stations made a big deal of it when DeBoer and Rowse "got married" because they had one of the cases that was decided by the court in June. (gay adoption laws).
In a lot of ways, Michigan still is socially conservative and I'm willing to bet that if we had another vote on the Marriage Amendment, it would still pass. If it did go down, it would be by a squeaker, not an electoral blow out. People are still very divided on this issue.
I know nothing about Michigan's values but polls can't ask older people disproportionately just because they vote more so both polls and election could be correct.
As people have mentioned, the Driftless Effect has been discussed quite a bit since it was perhaps the tipping point for Obama's first election. It is the 2nd biggest organic farming area in the United States (after CA) in terms of raw numbers, but is #1 when you look at per-cap numbers. It's very steep and hilly throughout the region, so farming must be done (often with painstaking contours) on limited ridge-tops and valleys. The soil is very fertile, but it's very difficult to find large swaths of flat land in order to do industrial-scale farms. There are also many Amish (WI has the 4th-highest Amish population in the country, the majority of whom live in the Driftless, and it's growing faster than the first 3), and liberal college-educated towns and cities dot the edges of it (Madison, Twin Cities, Rochester, etc.). Basically, there are ethnic/religious reasons, historical reasons, geographical reasons, a whole host of things coming together for the only large-scale rural white area outside New England that's a Democratic voting block. Additionally, looking at history and ethnic make-up, the Iron Range that makes up parts of Northern MN and NW WI is also a rural white Dem voting block, though much smaller and less populated than the 4-state Driftless one.
As for the bright red around the only major city America to have Socialist mayors (Milwaukee), well, that's pretty easy. Milwaukee was as hard-hit by white flight as any city in the country, and remains one of if not THE most segregated cities in America. MKE is very liberal; the suburbs are enthusiastic, entrenched Republican strongholds. The division, in nearly every way you could think of, between the City and the burbs might be more stark than anywhere else.
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If so then I guess that a huge number of Americans simply reversed their values in a ten year period?? I smell something fishy when it comes to these polls.
