Why are the "WOW" counties in Wisconsin conservative?

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

What makes the Milwaukee metro unique is that, in the not so distant past, it had a thriving white working class culture founded upon trade unions and socialism but, in relatively short order, the progeny of this culture went from being staunch socialists to being rock-ribbed, ultra-conservative Republicans. Now, to my knowledge, Milwaukee wasn't much of a center of "heavy industry" and, as such, lacked a setting for the formation of strong industrial unions, which were (and remain) the foundation of left-liberalism in the US. Instead, Milwaukee was a center of lighter, more specialized industry, like brewing, which had a craft unionist tradition. Further, these industries were some of the first to be dramatically adversely affected by automation, offshoring and, in general, deinustrialization, much of which occurred quite early on.

Basically if I had to summarize my argument:
1. Culturally, the WOW counties are filled with the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of socialists and remain more downscale/working class than you might think. So why are these counties so Republican? The suburbs surrounding Gary or Cleveland might be more Republican than the core but they're ultimately still Democratic. Why is Milwaukee different?
2. As an attempt at answer, I'd argue that Milwaukee lacked cultural characteristics of Gary and Cleveland that made the Democratic Party so durable there. Namely, there was a lack of industrial unions and, something not considered in the post above, far fewer Catholics or "ethnic whites" in the Milwaukee metro area. The Catholic issue probably matters when one contrasts Cudahy with the WOW counties; Cudahy is quite Polish and still is relatively Democratic for a white town. WOW counties are pretty Protestant.
3. White collar workers in WOW counties are almost certainly either part of management linked to industrial production or part of the general cultural milieu. In otherwords, they're likely incredibly hostile to unions and any party aligned with union interests.

As far as the race factor goes, white flight is an interesting explanation but I don't think it's entirely persuasive. Most northern cities experienced white flight but there's a pretty wide variance in support for Democratic candidates based on factors of socioeconomic status. This is an obvious statement but it's bears repeating. The Northern half of the US does not exhibit the voting patterns of an Apartheid state, even if people are segregated like they live in an Apartheid state. A fallacy of this forum is the idea that white voters everywhere are very Republican. Not even close to being true, particularly in the Midwest.

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

What makes the Milwaukee metro unique is that, in the not so distant past, it had a thriving white working class culture founded upon trade unions and socialism but, in relatively short order, the progeny of this culture went from being staunch socialists to being rock-ribbed, ultra-conservative Republicans. Now, to my knowledge, Milwaukee wasn't much of a center of "heavy industry" and, as such, lacked a setting for the formation of strong industrial unions, which were (and remain) the foundation of left-liberalism in the US. Instead, Milwaukee was a center of lighter, more specialized industry, like brewing, which had a craft unionist tradition. Further, these industries were some of the first to be dramatically adversely affected by automation, offshoring and, in general, deinustrialization, much of which occurred quite early on.

Basically if I had to summarize my argument:
1. Culturally, the WOW counties are filled with the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of socialists and remain more downscale/working class than you might think. So why are these counties so Republican? The suburbs surrounding Gary or Cleveland might be more Republican than the core but they're ultimately still Democratic. Why is Milwaukee different?
2. As an attempt at answer, I'd argue that Milwaukee lacked cultural characteristics of Gary and Cleveland that made the Democratic Party so durable there. Namely, there was a lack of industrial unions and, something not considered in the post above, far fewer Catholics or "ethnic whites" in the Milwaukee metro area. The Catholic issue probably matters when one contrasts Cudahy with the WOW counties; Cudahy is quite Polish and still is relatively Democratic for a white town. WOW counties are pretty Protestant.
3. White collar workers in WOW counties are almost certainly either part of management linked to industrial production or part of the general cultural milieu. In otherwords, they're likely incredibly hostile to unions and any party aligned with union interests.

As far as the race factor goes, white flight is an interesting explanation but I don't think it's entirely persuasive. Most northern cities experienced white flight but there's a pretty wide variance in support for Democratic candidates based on factors of socioeconomic status. This is an obvious statement but it's bears repeating. The Northern half of the US does not exhibit the voting patterns of an Apartheid state, even if people are segregated like they live in an Apartheid state. A fallacy of this forum is the idea that white voters everywhere are very Republican. Not even close to being true, particularly in the Midwest.

Catholicism is huge in the Milwaukee area, it's Catholics and Lutherans but the Catholic church has a heavy presence and I believe out of all the denominations has the most followers in the area.

Oh, I'm very aware of this. I'm saying that it's not nearly as Catholic as white people in the Gary metro area or the Detroit metro area etc.

68% of "adherents" in Macomb County are Catholic, for instance. This compares to 49% of "adherents" in Waukesha County. It's worth noting that Macomb County is 9% Black so this actually understates how Catholic it is.

I'd say that it's more useful to look at Ancestry statistics but Germans make this very difficult. Unfortunately though, BRTD is sort of right in the sense that Catholicism is a more of a proxy for "ethnic whites" and working class whites than it is an explanatory factor.