Iowa's a small state without a cosmopolitan metro like the Twin Cities or even a Milwaukee-like area. It's a largely rural state in character.
Its college town (Iowa City) is very tiny compared to Madison.
It's less diverse. Largely a white Christian land.
Lazy analysis like this ignores that a huge chunk of GOP votes usually comes from the Des Moines suburbs + Cedar Rapids suburbs, some of the wealthiest and most educated parts of the state.
They're suburbs to medium sized cities still. Not really comparable to the Twin Cities' suburbs.
