Iowa

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mileslunn:
It is a landlocked state, lacks a large metropolitan areas (Minnesota has Minneapolis and Wisconsin has Milwaukee which are much larger than Des Moines) and is one of only a handful of states that are over 90% white so asides from tradition, is there any particular reason the Democrats are still competitive here?

DINGO Joe:
It gets virtually zero dollars in defense spending and has no extraction (oil gas coal) industry in the state.  It's actually the second highest wind energy state (behind Texas) and generates the highest percentage of it's electricity from wind of any state by far.  High literacy and an engaged political populace helps too.  Linn/Johnson counties has a large university/IT presence and even Dubuque has a substantial IBM workforce.  IT tends to be left-center.

minionofmidas:
Iowa has no large metros, but it has rather a lot of people living in sizable urban cores (as well as a very large rural population - 36% as per the census bureau's definitions). It has a very small outer suburban population.

memphis:
The whole Upper Mississippi has a pretty strong Dem advantage. See similar results in SW Wisconsin and NW Illinois. Western Iowa, of course, remains a strongly GOP region.

mileslunn:
Quote from: memphis on November 20, 2012, 02:52:55 PM

The whole Upper Mississippi has a pretty strong Dem advantage. See similar results in SW Wisconsin and NW Illinois. Western Iowa, of course, remains a strongly GOP region.



Any particular reason for this?  I can see why the Democrats do well in rural New England as it is a pretty liberal area throughout and I believe has very few evangelical Christians (If you exclude this group, Obama got almost 60%), whereas the percentage of white evangelicals is pretty close to the national average in this area.  The other area is the rural West Coast counties in Northern California, Oregon, and Washington where you have a strong environmental movement and alternative lifestyle attitude.  But I cannot see any particular reason in this area.  Not that I would expect it to go massively Republican as it is not in the Deep South, Plains, or Mountain West which are the only areas the GOP routinely get over 70% in rural counties, but I thought I would be similiar to rural Upstate New York or rural Michigan in terms of voting patterns. 

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