If the Midwest was split entirely by "Lower Midwest" and "Upper Midwest", which part would Iowa be in?
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The people who say that are obviously people who never leave Iowa. The truth is if you blindfolded someone and dropped them in a cornfield they wouldn't be able to tell one state from another.
Politics has nothing to do with it.
I've lived in Missouri, now in Wisconsin. Wouldn't be a stretch to see Wisconsin go completely red at some point. Maybe Michigan too.... or not. Point is, that doesn't play into the conversation at all.
The rural northern forested parts can actually be the most red, except for that politically weird area known as Minnesota's North Shore and the far northern tip of Wisconsin up there.
Both upper and lower have forests and cornfields. Iowa is primarily cornfields.
The overall look, feel, and character of Iowa definitely leans upper regardless of who they vote for or where they go to church.
While there is some north/south separation within Iowa, it's barely enough to mention. Border states like Missouri is where the bigger differences lie.
Many parts of the Midwest going red has more to do with demographics than anything. Although the country is getting more divorce as a whole, the Midwest is a lot whiter and older than every other region in the country.
I used to consider Iowa an upper Midwestern state but now I consider it just Midwestern without any label. The northern parts are more upper and the southern parts more lower.
Midwest as a whole, the only two areas in Iowa that I consider more Upper Midwest would be Mason City/Clear Lake and Decorah. Lower Midwest in Iowa would mostly be Keokuk, Fort Madison, Centerville, and Lamoni.
The only states that feel "Upper Midwest" to me, as a native Iowan, are Minnesota and maybe Wisconsin (which I have less experience with). But I didn't grow up assigning upper and lower to the Midwestern states. I never thought of Iowa as either one. I don't think central Iowa (where I am) matches that closely with what I know of Minnesotans or Missourians.
Most people outside the Midwest have no perception of the difference between "Upper" and "Lower" Midwest, anyway. It's all just one immense blob of corn/boring.
I agree with those who say Iowa is just "Midwestern". It kind of doesn't really fall into either. It's definitely not Upper Midwestern.
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