Why are Southern College Counties so Republican?

[R.P. McM]

There's a widespread misconception that evangelicals are overwhelmingly poor. In reality most have above average incomes and live in upscale suburbs. While they aren't as wealthy as Jews or Hindus, there's a very clear reason they love the televangelist "Prosperity Gospel" so much.

Education is not a perfect proxy for income, but the relationship is pretty strong. So when I see a graphic like this from a highly respected survey outfit, it makes me deeply skeptical of your hypothesis:  



You mention Jews and Hindus, but you've omitted a few groups: Unitarians, Mainline Protestants, Buddhists, Atheists, Agnostics, Orthodox Christians, Muslims, Mormons, and Catholics. Which is not to say that the average Evangelical occupies a dilapidated shack in the Ozarks. Just that, in terms of religious (and irreligious) sects, Evangelicals are almost certainly at the lower end of the income scale.

RE: televangelism / the Prosperity Gospel — they love it for the same reason they love Trump. Namely, they're world-class suckers.  

[R.P. McM]

In Mississippi, all the Confederate/Old South imagery and nostalgia attracts some people to Ole Miss and repels others to Mississippi State and Southern Miss, and voting patterns follow.

Granted, a lot of people don't care either way, but that effect is there. Also a lot of students at all 3 universities stay registered at home rather than at college.

Interestingly, colleges like Ole Miss and the University of Alabama seem to attract a decent amount of students from wealthy and affluent suburbs up north -- especially (in my experiences) mid-to-upstate New York and Central Jersey (particularly Monmouth County).  

You know that no genuinely intelligent member of the Northeast aristocracy would every voluntarily attend Ole Miss or the University of Alabama, right? Those schools are more for Trump-esque prodigal sons and idiot scions.

[R.P. McM]

In Mississippi, all the Confederate/Old South imagery and nostalgia attracts some people to Ole Miss and repels others to Mississippi State and Southern Miss, and voting patterns follow.

Granted, a lot of people don't care either way, but that effect is there. Also a lot of students at all 3 universities stay registered at home rather than at college.

Interestingly, colleges like Ole Miss and the University of Alabama seem to attract a decent amount of students from wealthy and affluent suburbs up north -- especially (in my experiences) mid-to-upstate New York and Central Jersey (particularly Monmouth County).  

You know that no genuinely intelligent member of the Northeast aristocracy would every voluntarily attend Ole Miss or the University of Alabama, right? Those schools are more for Trump-esque prodigal sons and idiot scions.

Seriously? There are plenty of college-educated people in New York and New Jersey who do pretty well for themselves without being "members of the Northeast aristocracy", you know. It's not wall-to-wall Roosevelts any more, even in the Poughkeepsie Elks Lodge.

The son/daughter of a wealthy Northeastern family who chooses to attend Ole Miss is a moron. I said "aristocracy," but we don't even have to go that far — no merely affluent white from NYC or Boston is ever going to willingly attend an SEC school.  

[R.P. McM]

In Mississippi, all the Confederate/Old South imagery and nostalgia attracts some people to Ole Miss and repels others to Mississippi State and Southern Miss, and voting patterns follow.

Granted, a lot of people don't care either way, but that effect is there. Also a lot of students at all 3 universities stay registered at home rather than at college.

Interestingly, colleges like Ole Miss and the University of Alabama seem to attract a decent amount of students from wealthy and affluent suburbs up north -- especially (in my experiences) mid-to-upstate New York and Central Jersey (particularly Monmouth County).  

You know that no genuinely intelligent member of the Northeast aristocracy would every voluntarily attend Ole Miss or the University of Alabama, right? Those schools are more for Trump-esque prodigal sons and idiot scions.

Seriously? There are plenty of college-educated people in New York and New Jersey who do pretty well for themselves without being "members of the Northeast aristocracy", you know. It's not wall-to-wall Roosevelts any more, even in the Poughkeepsie Elks Lodge.

The son/daughter of a wealthy Northeastern family who chooses to attend Ole Miss is a moron. I said "aristocracy," but we don't even have to go that far — no merely affluent white from NYC or Boston is ever going to willingly attend an SEC school.  

I wouldn't go quite that far - Vandy is SEC but plenty of affluent Northeastern kids go there. Hell, my cousin is from a very wealthy Silicon Valley town but he goes to A&M.

Every rule has an exception. Vanderbilt, not Texas A&M, btw!

[R.P. McM]

In Mississippi, all the Confederate/Old South imagery and nostalgia attracts some people to Ole Miss and repels others to Mississippi State and Southern Miss, and voting patterns follow.

Granted, a lot of people don't care either way, but that effect is there. Also a lot of students at all 3 universities stay registered at home rather than at college.

Interestingly, colleges like Ole Miss and the University of Alabama seem to attract a decent amount of students from wealthy and affluent suburbs up north -- especially (in my experiences) mid-to-upstate New York and Central Jersey (particularly Monmouth County).  

You know that no genuinely intelligent member of the Northeast aristocracy would every voluntarily attend Ole Miss or the University of Alabama, right? Those schools are more for Trump-esque prodigal sons and idiot scions.

Seriously? There are plenty of college-educated people in New York and New Jersey who do pretty well for themselves without being "members of the Northeast aristocracy", you know. It's not wall-to-wall Roosevelts any more, even in the Poughkeepsie Elks Lodge.

The son/daughter of a wealthy Northeastern family who chooses to attend Ole Miss is a moron.

Some of the best people are morons.

No, that's really not true. Stupid people are borderline animals, so they're incapable of adhering to any sort of ecumenical principle. What feels good for the animal is what it does. Rules, norms, scriptures, and laws mean nothing to the animal. You can never trust the animal, because it always does what's in its short-term interest.

Aside from the part where this is a ludicrously absolute statement and demonstrably untrue, PQG didn't mention NYC or Boston, did she? She mentioned Upstate New York and parts of New Jersey, specifically Monmouth County. I've spent a lot of time in Central Jersey (I lived in the northern tip of Burlington County, and thus also the northern tip of South Jersey, for over a decade) and I can assure you that, even if we're going purely by stereotypes of what SEC schools are like, there are plenty of ~culturally conservative~ upper-middle-class families there who'd be happy to send their little Graysons and Sierras to schools with faith-and-football-centered social scenes. Central Jersey and Hudson Valley exurbia is just not the kind of place you seem to think it is.

Why would you ever think I would confuse a Woodbine carpenter's son for the intellectual / financial elite? Fact is, the latter would never willingly send their offspring to an SEC school. I'm sorry, but the stereotype is well known, and it's true.

[R.P. McM]

In Mississippi, all the Confederate/Old South imagery and nostalgia attracts some people to Ole Miss and repels others to Mississippi State and Southern Miss, and voting patterns follow.

Granted, a lot of people don't care either way, but that effect is there. Also a lot of students at all 3 universities stay registered at home rather than at college.

Interestingly, colleges like Ole Miss and the University of Alabama seem to attract a decent amount of students from wealthy and affluent suburbs up north -- especially (in my experiences) mid-to-upstate New York and Central Jersey (particularly Monmouth County).  

You know that no genuinely intelligent member of the Northeast aristocracy would every voluntarily attend Ole Miss or the University of Alabama, right? Those schools are more for Trump-esque prodigal sons and idiot scions.

Seriously? There are plenty of college-educated people in New York and New Jersey who do pretty well for themselves without being "members of the Northeast aristocracy", you know. It's not wall-to-wall Roosevelts any more, even in the Poughkeepsie Elks Lodge.

The son/daughter of a wealthy Northeastern family who chooses to attend Ole Miss is a moron.

Some of the best people are morons.

No, that's really not true. Stupid people are borderline animals,

I have no reason to read any further than this. I'm saying this from the bottom of my ~high-IQ~, ex-~gifted child~ heart: Get bent, you self-important jackass.

You don't have to flash your intellectual bonafides — 90% of the folks on this forum fit the same description. It's just that some of us have become deeply skeptical of the notion that the voters who've entrusted Donald Trump with nuclear weapons and the rule of law are capable of making responsible decisions. All evidence suggests they're just too stupid.