Why is Indiana so Republican?

[Bismarck]

I don't know how Barack won it in 2008.  It was a huge swing from 2004.

He brought tens of thousands of new voters out in Marion County, and he cut the margins in the doughnut counties (the suburban counties that ring Marion) to the point that for once they didn’t outvote Marion. He also overperformed among rural midwesterners generally, and got a big turnout among folks in Lafayette/West Lafayette to flip Tippecanoe County, home of Purdue University.

[Bismarck]

- Very conservative suburbs
- Largely rural
- White and Protestant, and of German origin
- Not many college towns
- Low minority population

Why is having a large German American community relevant? I’ve heard its early settlement by people from more southern colonies like Virginia has led to IN voting more like a southern state.

Actually the southern (and more southern/Appalachian influenced) part of the state is traditionally more democratic. In 2016 rural southern Indiana voted more or less the same as rural northern Indiana but this has not usually been the case, especially for statewide elections.