Don't Massachusetts and Rhode Island have more ancestry Italians and Irish, whereas Vermont and Maine have more ancestry from Britain and France? Does that change anything, or have any impact?
Lots of Irish and Italians but I don't think they're a majority. We still have lots of British descendants, some French, some Portuguese, and now a lot of Hispanics. Or at least RI does.
Don't Massachusetts and Rhode Island have more ancestry Italians and Irish, whereas Vermont and Maine have more ancestry from Britain and France? Does that change anything, or have any impact?
Yes, and especially Rhode Island is far more Catholic. Indeed, Rhode Island is the most Catholic state in the Union iirc.
Catholic in name not in practice for the most part, though we do have lots and lots of churches.
Massachusetts and Connecticut are two of the most unequal states in the country. To my knowledge, along with New York, they blow the former Confederacy out of the water. The financial sector looms large in Connecticut and the academic-industrial complex looms large in Massachusetts; both states once contained a very light manufacturing sector. As a result, both states are sharply polarized along class-lines; there's a tremendous cultural divide between Boston and the rest of Massachusetts and another tremendous cultural divide between the New York metro area in CT and the rest of the state. Contrary to stereotypes involving "WASPs" or "Yankee culture", neither state is particularly defined by the elites but, regardless, the elites of the Boston metro area and Fairfield County punch above their weight.
For whatever reason, these stereotypes about WASPs have been applied to Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, even though the three above states are, if anything, dominated by the scruffy remnants of long-dead industrial communities, logging towns and small-farming. Yes, there are resort towns in Maine/New Hampshire, some wealthy migrants to all three states but, ultimately, they are incredibly poor in comparison to their counterparts in MA and NH.
Hopefully, if the primary process has imparted any knowledge, it is that New England is not some sort of highly-affluent, highly-educated, enlightened liberal utopia. Sure, the median voter in this region is unusually secular but it's still a hotbed of chauvinistic nationalism and a large degree of racist sentiment, as evidenced by the triumph of LePage in 2014. Further, it would be a mistake to see any of these states as a citadel for Obama-style technocratic, education-focused liberalism.
edit: I ignored Rhode Island because it might as well be on a different planet imo.
Now I'm curious for your take on Rhode Island
We are based off the mills of the Providence, Pawtucket, Central Falls, and Woonsocket. The American Industrial Revolution began here, at Slater Mill along the Blackstone River. But once those mill jobs left, the state never truly recovered. And now we have nearly a Hispanic majority in the cities mentioned above (probably do have a majority in Central Falls), which most people don't think of states so far north of the border.
Just so people know... we called is Southern New England.
Have never heard anyone call us "Lower New England" before this thread.
Sorry, didn't mean to offend you, lol. I'll change the thread title if that makes you feel better.
Thanks but you didn't need to lol, it wasn't offensive I just never ever heard of those terms before.
