Iowa's population is 61% urban. Does this surprise you?

[traininthedistance]

You know what's way more surprising?

Yep.  All alone in the Midwest.  (I'm sure you all know what this is a map of.)

[traininthedistance]

But seriously, this entire country is very very urban at this point (especially if you're including all the suburbs and horrible exurbs, as one should).  I wonder if any state is more than 50 percent rural at this point.  Wyoming?  The Dakotas?  Mississippi?  West Virginia?  I'd frankly be shocked if there were any besides those five- and maybe not even those five.

EDIT: Forgot about Vermont- okay, six.

[traininthedistance]

You know what's way more surprising?
Yep.  All alone in the Midwest.  (I'm sure you all know what this is a map of.)

That's not really surprising.  In Iowa it happened like in Massachusetts.  It was a court case.  Not like in those states where people actually democratically decided the thing.  And the court case started in Johnson County.  That's where Captain Kirk was from.  (Actually, Kirk was born in adjacent Washington County, but it's close enough.)

The only surprising thing about Iowa is what Jack Kerouac says:  "Iowa has the prettiest girls in the world."  But that's only surprising at first.  Then you remember that Kerouac lived during the 40s and 50s, when the standard of beauty was busty, Germanic, blonde cheesecake.  This was all before the time of dark tanning, exotic foreign models, and rail-thin supermodels.  If curvaceous and pale is your thing, you'll love Iowa women. 

No, actually, opebo has it right.  That's a map of the white vote in 2012.  Though, the fact that Iowa was the first midwestern state to approve gay marriage is of course less surprising when you realize they were also the only midwestern state to vote for Obama over Romney (judges or no judges).

[traininthedistance]

You know what's way more surprising?
Yep.  All alone in the Midwest.  (I'm sure you all know what this is a map of.)

That's not really surprising.  In Iowa it happened like in Massachusetts.  It was a court case.  Not like in those states where people actually democratically decided the thing.  And the court case started in Johnson County.  That's where Captain Kirk was from.  (Actually, Kirk was born in adjacent Washington County, but it's close enough.)

The only surprising thing about Iowa is what Jack Kerouac says:  "Iowa has the prettiest girls in the world."  But that's only surprising at first.  Then you remember that Kerouac lived during the 40s and 50s, when the standard of beauty was busty, Germanic, blonde cheesecake.  This was all before the time of dark tanning, exotic foreign models, and rail-thin supermodels.  If curvaceous and pale is your thing, you'll love Iowa women. 

No, actually, opebo has it right.  That's a map of the white vote in 2012.  Though, the fact that Iowa was the first midwestern state to approve gay marriage is of course less surprising when you realize they were also the only midwestern state to vote for Obama over Romney (judges or no judges).

The strong correlation between legalized gay marriage and white liberals can hardly be considered a surprise though.

Yes, that's exactly my point.  People were surprised that Iowa was the first Midwest state to legalize gay marriage, but it's not surprising when you realize that the white voters of Iowa are in fact the most liberal white voters outside of the coasts!