Religious Denomination Maps

[Ban my account ffs!]

The political divisions in Minnesota seem not only to be on religious, but also on ethnic grounds.

The western, far southern, and the northwestern areas are dominated mostly by Scandinavian ethnicities that tend to be more socially conservative but economically liberal.  Many areas along the Red River of the North and the Minnesota River are trending Republican in presidential politics, but are still solidly democratic in statewide races.  These areas are mostly Lutheran/Catholic.  My city in north-central MN is dominated by ELCA and Catholics with 1 LCMS church and a few Baptist/assembly of God churches. 

My family is split between ELCA and LCMS and their political divisions also seem to follow this trend with the ELCA Lutherans solidly liberal and the LCMS more conservative.

Northeastern Minnesota is more democratic than it is liberal.  While it is economically radical, it is socially conservative.  This area has a strong eastern European influence and there are more Catholics here. 

Most of northern and western Minnesota have a strong tradition of radical liberals with the socialist "Farmer-Labor" party performing strongly here until it merged with the Democrats in 1944.

The central part of MN is a different story.  This area was settled by conservative Catholic Germans.  Most of these people vote Republican and have strengthened that trend in recent years, though even Stearns County, a German-Catholic stronghold, voted for Klobuchar over Mark Kennedy.  There are a few communities of predominantly Irish Catholics who tend to vote Democrat. 

It'll be interesting to see where the state goes as it becomes more secular and diverse.