Why is Dane County in Wisconsin so democratic

[jimrtex]

It’s full of absolute moonbats hence the name 30 square miles of nonsense surrounded by reality. It’s the Cambridge of the Midwest

All three claims in this post are nonsense.

The people are relatively moonbats, Dane County is larger than 30 square miles, and Wisconsin is not in the Midwest. So which is the Cambridge of the Midwest: Lawrence, Lincoln, or Iowa City?

[jimrtex]

It's mostly a product of the 1960s counterculture leaving a permanent cultural impact on the place. Without the university, that countercultural scene wouldn't have taken off, but Madison's liberalism isn't just a product of having a university and an educated workforce. These days it's not completely unfair to say that Madison is liberal because people move to it because it is liberal.

The university likely serves as a filter. Students of lower academic standing, or who can't afford to live away from home, are more likely to attend one of the branches, which might also have lower tuition. UW-Madison is much larger and many, many, more graduate students. UW-Madison has 43,000 students, with 14,000 graduate students. The typical branch has around 10,000 students with 1,000 graduate students. Would-be teachers might go to a branch since most were founded as normal schools. After graduation, they could teach in a local school. They are less likely to become detached from the local community.

The capital also has an influence since people who work for the government are not likely to be opposed to expansion of government.

The geography may have an effect on the suburban cities. Madison can't expand to the north or south because of the lakes. And since it was a late developer, it has to spread out more. This permitted neighboring cities to form, which could block annexation by Madison. This did not mean that the persons who bought the houses were any different.

[jimrtex]

The part I find odd isn't that Madison proper is so Democratic but that there's no Republican suburbs, anywhere. Especially since outer Dane is pretty rural and the towns that dot the area are basically exurbs.

In Wisconsin, a town is a township. You're probably referring to villages, or some cases cities.

The smaller towns were at least 25% to the right of Madison.

Trump only got 15% of the vote in Madison.

Monona was 19%. It reached a peak population decades ago after it was filled up and household sizes have since declined.

Fitchburg was 21%, and has a significant minority population (17% Hispanic, 10% Black, 5% Asian). The remaining fragments of Madison Town to the north are 28% Hispanic, 20% Black, 6% Asian.

Middleton City was also 21%. In 1950 it was a village west of Madison (Middleton Town is directly west of Madison Town). Madison City has annexed much of Middleton Town such that Middleton City is north of the western part of Madison City. The remnant of Middleton Town on the western edge of Madison was 37% for Trump. Middleton is the closest suburb other than Shorewood Hills Village to the university. Shorewood Hills is a small enclave filled with university professors and was 88 to 8 for Clinton over Trump. The next town to the west, Cross Plains was 41% for Trump.

Other suburbs were Verona 27%, Mt. Horeb 29%, Oregon 29%, McFarland 30%, Stoughton 30%, Sun Prairie 31%, DeForest 4%, Waunakee 37%, and Windsor 39%. There is a definite west and south, north and east trend. The airport is in the northern part of the eastern part of the city, and is likely close to whatever manufacturing is done, and thus is more support of a WWC. Jobs with the government and the university are more likely to be clerical, and private sectors jobs may be more based on spinoffs of university research.

You do get up over 40% in towns, particularly on the northern and eastern edges of the county.

[jimrtex]

I think it's particularly interesting to think about this in the context of the other Midwestern cities with large state universities in/very near their capitols: Columbus, the Twin Cities, and Lansing.  To me, as an MSU grad, it never seemed like Michigan State was perceived to be as central to the well-being of the city as UW-Madison is to Madison.  But I couldn't explain to you why the two cities are oriented so differently (except, maybe, UW-Madison IS actually central in Madison, while MSU is off in East Lansing).

Lansing had a significant automobile production. It was the headquarters for Oldsmobile before GM was created. Ingham County has been stagnant since 1980, and Lansing has lost population since 1970. Eaton has a had an increase but that is slowing. Clinton is still growing. From 1970 to 2010, the 3-county area grew at 0.5%.

MSU is the Ag School in Michigan, while UW-Madison is the major university in Wisconsin. Michigan not only has U of Michigan, but Wayne State, CMU, EMU, WMU, Grand Valley State, and Oakland are all large institutions. Only UW-Milwaukee is of comparable size in Wisconsin, and by its location is not going to have a dominating campus culture.

[jimrtex]

If you go back to say the 1960's and before, college town areas, particularly those in Yankee white and Scandinavian areas would most certainly be Republican because of the wealth gap of those who attended college versus those who don't. Beginning in the 1960's with a diversification of professions in the elite sectors and also with the generational dynamics at play, is when these areas shifted heavily to the left and heavily towards the Democrats. The same thing happened in places like Ithaca and Ann Arbor.

This actually makes Dane County's political history even more noteworthy, because while Tompkins County and Washtenaw County didn't vote Democratic during the 20th century before 1964 other than in 1912, Dane County started its Democratic streak in 1932 with FDR and was only briefly interrupted by narrow wins by Eisenhower in '52 and '56.

Robert LaFollette was from Dane County (Primrose) and his son Robert LaFollete, Jr. was born in Madison. When Fighting Bob ran for President in 1924 he carried Dane (63P/31R/5D). Young Bob was elected in a special election in 1925 to succeed his father, and was re-elected in 1928, both times as a Republican. But he was elected in 1934 and 1940 as a Progressive. In 1934, it was (48P, 24D, 23R, 5S). In 1940, it was (45P, 41R, 13D). Since FDR carried Wisconsin 51-45, there must have been a lot of LaFollette-Roosevelt voters. In 1946, LaFollette ran in the Republican primary and lost to Joe McCarthy. This likely led Progressives to give up on the Republican Party.

Both Fighting Bob and his son Phillip LaFollete (young Bob's brother) had been elected DA for Dane County, and both had been elected governor, serving in Madison of course. The two Robert LaFollete's had been US Senator for 40 years from 1906-1946, elected first by the legislature and then popular vote.

In 1932, Dane was FDR's 62nd strongest county, -7% below the state level.
In 1936, Dane was FDR's 11th strongest county, +4% above the state level.
In 1940, Dane was FDR's 3rd strongest county, +14% above the state level.

In 1890, when Fighting Bob was defeated in a bid for re-election to the US House, at least some of the reason was attributed to a state law that had required public education to be conducted in English (1890 was also a national watershed election, as Republicans went from a small majority in the House, to 27% member). Wisconsin went from a 7R:2D delegation to a 0R:9D delegation. An English instruction law would have much more impact in Wisconsin with its large German and Scandinavian populations, while Michigan was much more a case of Yankee settlement. There might not have even been reason to propose such a law in Michigan. Immigration (and migration) to Michigan came later, after development of the auto industry.

Washtenaw is also kind of a suburb of Detroit. Michigan politics are more strongly influenced by us vs. them rest of state vs. Detroit, because of Detroit's massive size.

I was looking at trends over time. Dane was the weakest county for Wallace (1968), Schmitz (1972), Perot (1992), and Perot (1996). It was the strongest county for McCarthy (1976), Anderson-Lucey (1980), and Nader (2000). It was not particularly strong for Stein (2016).

Dane was also quite weak for Socialist candidates in the first 1/3 of the 20th Century - when they were finishing 2nd in Milwaukee.

Dane fell down in the rankings for JFK (1960) when it was 14th, and Carter (1976) when it was 19th. This may be due to more populist support for these candidates elsewhere, or disdain for less intellectual candidates compared to Stevenson and McGovern.

Dane has been 2nd in Democratic support since 2004, behind only Menominee, which is coincident with a reservation. Before then it sometimes was behind counties like Douglas, Ashland, Iron, Portage, etc.

In recent elections, Milwaukee has approached Dane's level of Democratic support, but this is primarily due to differentiation from the WOW counties. Incidentally, it appears that Ozaukee is becoming a bit to the left of Washington and Waukesha. Historically it was a bit to the right. This may be due to the cities of Waukesha and West Bend providing a bit of an industrial base, which is relatively less important due to the onslaught of the suburbs, while Ozaukee is north of the wealthy Democratic suburbs north of Milwaukee, and long-term growth of the black population to the north.

The next question is why is Portage so Democratic, and neighboring Waupaca and Waushara so Republican. I don't see any significant industry located in Stevens Point. I see that Portage has a very high population of Polish descent. Why is that, and when did it occur? OK, I find that it was rural settlement after the Civil War, when a Polish Catholic Church was established and the northeastern part of the county drew other Poles to the area.

In 2016, Rosholt and Sharon towns had 34% and 30% swing to the Republicans. Why is that?

[jimrtex]

The next question is why is Portage so Democratic, and neighboring Waupaca and Waushara so Republican. I don't see any significant industry located in Stevens Point. I see that Portage has a very high population of Polish descent. Why is that, and when did it occur? OK, I find that it was rural settlement after the Civil War, when a Polish Catholic Church was established and the northeastern part of the county drew other Poles to the area.

In 2016, Rosholt and Sharon towns had 34% and 30% swing to the Republicans. Why is that?

Worth noting that Steven's Point has a decently large UW campus located there.

It goes way back - to at least 1916, More remarkable is that neighbors Waupaca and Wuashare are among the most Republican counties in the state.

In 1916, Portage was Wilson's 4th strongest county, while Waupaca and Waushare were 1st and 4th weakest.

Why would historically Polish rural settlements swing 34% and 30% to Trump.

In some recent gubernatorial elections it has been Stevens Point keeping the county Democratic.