There more/less than anywhere else in OH? I doubt it. It is a manufacturing area, and many of these counties Obama did reasonably well in (mid to high 40's) last time. I'm not sure offhand if there is much auto-related employment in that region. I haven't heard of much.
The region is largely made up of industrial workers in the cities who work their asses off, plus rich Tea Party types in the exurbs who attack them for not working hard enough. The urban areas voted for Obama, the rural or exurban areas for Romney.
That is a grotesque oversimplification. See (e.g.) Pike County.
EDIT: Hocking and Perry, among others, also wreck your strawman.
