Milwaukee suburbs

[TJ in Oregon]

I don't know very much about Wisconsin, but I've heard the Milwaukee suburbs are redder than many rural parts of Wisconsin. Is this true? If so, what is the reason for this?

Yes, it's true and they have fairly consistently been the three most heavily Republican counties in the state of Wisconsin for decades now (Waukesha, Ozaukee, and Washington Counties).

In a post-Trump world, they are no longer No. 1, 2, and 3, but are still very Republican counties and more conservative than rural Wisconsin on the whole.

The reason for this is up for debate, although common explanations are:
1) The class-based voting preferences of manufacturing workers with a suburban managerial class
2) The prevalence of talk radio in the MKE suburbs
3) The prevalence of German ancestry
4) White flight
5) Being fairly religious, except Catholic and conservative Lutherans rather than more stereotypical Evangelicals

The answer is probably some combination of the above.

[TJ in Oregon]

I don't know very much about Wisconsin, but I've heard the Milwaukee suburbs are redder than many rural parts of Wisconsin. Is this true? If so, what is the reason for this?

Yes, it's true and they have fairly consistently been the three most heavily Republican counties in the state of Wisconsin for decades now (Waukesha, Ozaukee, and Washington Counties).

In a post-Trump world, they are no longer No. 1, 2, and 3, but are still very Republican counties and more conservative than rural Wisconsin on the whole.

The reason for this is up for debate, although common explanations are:
1) The class-based voting preferences of manufacturing workers with a suburban managerial class
2) The prevalence of talk radio in the MKE suburbs
3) The prevalence of German ancestry
4) White flight
5) Being fairly religious, except Catholic and conservative Lutherans rather than more stereotypical Evangelicals

The answer is probably some combination of the above.

Are you suggesting that the presence of a suburban managerial class shifts the overall vote of manufacturing workers R? Or that both groups happen to be more R than expected?

I think he just means right leaning managers tend to live in the WOW counties.

That's true for suburban areas everywhere though.

What makes the Milwaukee metro unique is that, in the not so distant past, it had a thriving white working class culture founded upon trade unions and socialism but, in relatively short order, the progeny of this culture went from being staunch socialists to being rock-ribbed, ultra-conservative Republicans... Basically if I had to summarize my argument:
1. Culturally, the WOW counties are filled with the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of socialists and remain more downscale/working class than you might think. So why are these counties so Republican? The suburbs surrounding Gary or Cleveland might be more Republican than the core but they're ultimately still Democratic. Why is Milwaukee different?
2. As an attempt at answer, I'd argue that Milwaukee lacked cultural characteristics of Gary and Cleveland that made the Democratic Party so durable there. Namely, there was a lack of industrial unions and, something not considered in the post above, far fewer Catholics or "ethnic whites" in the Milwaukee metro area. The Catholic issue probably matters when one contrasts Cudahy with the WOW counties; Cudahy is quite Polish and still is relatively Democratic for a white town. WOW counties are pretty Protestant.
3. White collar workers in WOW counties are almost certainly either part of management linked to industrial production or part of the general cultural milieu. In otherwords, they're likely incredibly hostile to unions and any party aligned with union interests.

What I meant to say is that the manufacturing managerial class tends to live in the WOW counties, while more blue collar workers tend to live in Milwaukee County. Unlike other sectors, the managerial class of midwestern manufacturing still is largely conservative. The suburbs of many other cities have more of a new-economy based employment profile, whose managerial class is much more liberal.

The WOW counties aren't significantly less Catholic than metro Cleveland, and more Catholic (according to ARDA, Waukesha County is 30% Catholic and Cuyahoga is 33% Catholic). None of the counties adjacent to Cleveland are appreciably more Catholic either.

There is a difference in ethnicity, though. Cleveland's Catholics are more Irish, Polish, Italian, Eastern European, etc., whereas Milwaukee's Catholics are predominantly German. And, as DFB pointed out, some of the suburbs that are more Polish aren't as Republican, although in the case of Cudahy that is largely explainable by class. German Catholics have long been more Republican than Catholics of other ethnic backgrounds, so it's not surprising that a city where many, if not most, of the Catholics are of German ancestry would be more Republicans.