How do trailer parks actually vote?

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Obviously the first assumption would be that trailer parks are part of the broader WWC that have swung most heavily towards the GOP in recent years (and the popular view of "trailer trash" would be they are inclined that way), but I imagine there might be some interest in looking at how precincts that are known to be dominated by mobile homes have voted over the years.

[Nyvin]

They probably barely vote at all.   I'd think the ones that do probably aren't as Republican as people think, depending on location obviously.

[RINO Tom]

Are trailer parks particularly White?  Literally no idea ... the one closest to where I currently live (Iowa City) is pretty White, but so is everywhere around here.  I would guess they actually skew about 60/40 Democratic.  The most loyal Republican WWC voters would likely be in that "working but paying middle bracket taxes" group.

[Ban my account ffs!]

There are two municipalities in Minnesota that are basically trailer parks...Hilltop in Anoka county and Landfall in Washington county.  Both voted strongly DFL in 2018 with particularly high support for the Grassroots Legal Marijuana Now party.

These probably aren’t representative of trailer parks in general.  But it does offer some insight.

Keep in mind they are about 70% non-hispanic white.  Most of the rest are Mexican-American or other hispanics with small populations of Native Americans and Blacks.

[Some of My Best Friends Are Gay]

I would guess it depends on the location. but also, since trailer park residents are likely to be very poor, they're also disproportionately likely to not vote at all.

[DINGO Joe]

Well, mobile homes are mainly a Southern rural thing as I imagine they're difficult to have effective heating and cultural-socioeconomic reasons

States with highest % of housing being mobile homes are South Carolina 16.6% and WV and Miss at 15.1%.  Conversely MA is 0.8%, MN  3.4% and IA 3.7%

Whoever makes makes up the poor class in each state correlates with how they vote.  Hispanics in the Midwest vote D but barely vote.  Appalachians are white and vote very R.  Miss and SC will be both black and white and will vote just like their non trailer brethren do, possibly even more polarized if possible.

[Tartarus Sauce]

Based on my time scouring NYT's 2016 election map, trailer park precincts tend to follow whatever the surrounding area's political leanings are.

[Obama-Biden Democrat]

They probably barely vote at all.   I'd think the ones that do probably aren't as Republican as people think, depending on location obviously.

They are probably in and out of jail constantly as well. Trailer parks probably used to be Dem strongholds up until the 80'/90's, especially in the South. I would imagine that Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton dominated in them. They may also have been Democratic at the state level until the 2000's in a lot of the South as well.

[The Mikado]

This is very weird to me, because I associate trailer park areas as being heavily Hispanic and that they would presumably vote heavily Democrat.

[VPH]

My guess, based on anecdotal evidence from canvassing in trailer parks or adjacent to them before, would be lower turnout in general. Those who do vote, looking at precincts in South Wichita that are heavily populated with trailer parks, show the Obama-Trump swing. Yet, these same precincts voted for Steve Crum in 2016's state house race. I'd say they reflect the WWC vote, but maybe a little lower turnout. Majority Hispanic trailer parks are a different story, of course.

[Esteemed Jimmy]

I would guess it depends on the location. but also, since trailer park residents are likely to be very poor, they're also disproportionately likely to not vote at all.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Republican voters in trailer park areas are the ones who own the houses that surround them, meanwhile the trailer park dwellers themselves barely vote and when they do it depends on their racial demographics.

[Indy Texas 🇺🇦🇵🇸]

If we're talking about "true" trailer parks: closely clustered single-wide trailers, you're talking about a very marginalized underclass that doesn't vote, period.

Lots of people who lack high school diplomas. Lots of unemployment or under-the-table work. Health problems and lack of insurance. Often limited or no transportation.

In Houston, these are often inhabited by recent immigrants from Central America. They often are not citizens and can't vote anyway. Go further out into the country and they revert more to the "poor white trash" stereotype that involves missing teeth and frequent visits by the police. They don't vote either.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Like this?

[Adam Griffin]

Among those who vote and definitely prior to 2016, more Democratic than virtually any other demographic besides income/class would suggest compared to their local constituencies. I'm sure there are a relative few exceptions, but even following the age of Trump, it wouldn't surprise me if a good portion of them still adhere to the above situation.

Additionally, it has been my experience that many of these individuals are horribly elastic based on the opinions they have regurgitated to them. They're going to be far less hostile to Democrats than many might otherwise believe (and far less open to the GOP) if they have consistent exposure to discussions about candidates and policies. However, they generally don't have such exposure, and all too many campaigns are unwilling to invest given the overall low turnout and transience in these places.

[nerd73]

I would guess it depends on the location. but also, since trailer park residents are likely to be very poor, they're also disproportionately likely to not vote at all.

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

There's a trailer park precinct in Milwaukee that's majority white. This trailer park was featured in Desmond's book Evicted. It voted overwhelmingly for Obama in 2008.

[Obama-Biden Democrat]

There's a trailer park precinct in Milwaukee that's majority white. This trailer park was featured in Desmond's book Evicted. It voted overwhelmingly for Obama in 2008.

Yea the lower middle class and WWC vote Republican, but the desperately poor still vote Dem, but at much reduced margins. Hillary won people making under 30,000 by 10-15 points. Transients and the desperately poor are much more likely to be living in trailer parks.

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

There's a sprawling large trailer park in Garden City that's composed of Mexican-Americans and poor Whites that's right outside of Boise. It voted for Obama by a substantial margin 2008 and in 2012 (16 point margin in 12) but, in 2016, it voted for Trump by a 3 point margin, though he only received 45% of the vote. Then, in 2018, it gave Paulette Jordan 65% of the vote and gave the no-name Democratic congressional candidate 62% of the vote.

This basically confirms AG's conjecture about residents of trailer parks. While I am sure that some Mexicans in the trailer park vote, most voters are almost certainly White and they are very "elastic".

[lfromnj]

Read somewhere one trailer park precinct in pasco county Florida swung by 37 points towards Trump.

[Mr. Illini]

Based on my time scouring NYT's 2016 election map, trailer park precincts tend to follow whatever the surrounding area's political leanings are.

Looking at the precincts in Champaign that have large mobile home complexes in them, this seems to be true.

[Mr. Smith]

I can only tell you the ones in SWVA [such as in Galax or Wytheville or Buchanan] tend to be very Republican.

[Wazza [INACTIVE]]

They obviously must vote for the Republican Party because they are full of poor and uneducated racist hicks.

[MarkD]

Where I was born and raised, St. Charles County, MO, the precincts that include trailer parks typically vote predominantly Democratic, even in recent elections. There is one precinct in particular that is made up entirely of mobile home trailers, precinct number 151, and it always votes more heavily Democratic than the surrounding precincts.

[The Mikado]

They obviously must vote for the Republican Party because they are full of poor and uneducated racist hicks.

Like I said earlier in the thread, the trailer parks I've seen in North Texas were always full of Mexican and Honduran and Guatemalan flags and not a lot of white people. I very much doubt there's many racist hicks there.