Why are Southern College Counties so Republican?

[pbrower2a]

Only rarely are the colleges giants in the sense that the big land-grant colleges of the North and West are. (Note that there are exceptions such as the University of Arkansas, the University of North Carolina, and of course the University of Texas -- which is more western than southern. (A joke about UT-Austin is that it is the University of California or Michigan at Austin). People attending colleges in the South are more likely to be Southerners (duh!) and if white are more likely to be from politically-conservative, Bible-thumping families. (Southern blacks are much more liberal in their votes because they have little stake in 'conservative' Southern politics.

Educational achievement is not so admired in the South as in other parts of the US -- probably because of the different ethnic mix. Southern white kids may be more likely to go to college for technical specialties in which liberal arts that foster liberal ideas are not so relevant.