What makes Iowa so much more Democratic than Nebraska, Kansas, etc.

[Oldiesfreak1854]

Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Missouri are all swing states, and Minnesota kind of is.  I think the reason is a lot of Upper Midwest sentiments on many social and economic issues.  People talk about the religious conservatives in Iowa, but they're only really powerful in the state Republican Party.

[Oldiesfreak1854]

A historical-cultural book, Albion's Seed, indicates that the flow of Puritan emigrants to the West followed the Great Lakes and ended in Iowa.  (Obviously there was then a "jump" across the Rockies to the Oregon Territory.)  Maybe that's why Iowa votes like New England.

Btw, excellent book, though a little dry, especially if you're not into cultural-history:  http://www.amazon.com/Albions-Seed-British-Folkways-Cultural/dp/0195069056

Iowa doesn't really vote much like New England, at least not anymore.  It's a swing state, after all.