Which state has the most Polish-American vote bloc?

[Suburbia]

Which state in the U.S. or region has the most Polish-American vote bloc and which party can win them over in the future or does it make a difference?

[Mechaman]

Which state in the U.S. or region has the most Polish-American vote bloc and which party can win them over in the future or does it make a difference?

The Midwest and urban areas in the Northeast have a lot of Polish Americans.  Illinois especially has a large number, even having some state agencies that give somebody an option to press "3 for Polski" on their hotlines.  Politically speaking, the Poles seem to have a voting habit very similar to the Irish, with a few exceptions (Hoover in '28, Ike in '52).  In short, they look like a traditionally Democratic group that will vote Republican for the right candidate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish-American_vote#Presidential_voting_results

[pbrower2a]

It's hard to figure. Polish-Americans, to the extent that they are identifiable, are toward the top among white groups for SES, surpassing even WASPs (which reflects that a huge part of the WASP population is poor, undereducated people in the Deep and Mountain South).. Many have WASP-like surnames adopted to accommodate the incompetence of "dumb Americans" to pronounce the surnames. Among white-American ethnic groups, only Jews and perhaps Americans of South Asian descent (if those are considered white) fare better.

The "Polish vote" is not as politically liberal as the Jewish vote, but in view of Polish-American demographics (high educational and vocational achievement, low levels of criminal incarceration) they would vote fairly conservative if a high SES so dictated at the time. They would be ideal voters for an Eisenhower-Rockefeller Republican today, someone unlikely to offend educated people and organized labor (Polish-American blue-collar workers are heavily unionized, so anti-union stances will hurt any Republican effort to win Polish-American votes).  

Heavily concentrated in the northeastern quadrant of the US and perhaps the Far West,   probably close to the national average in Florida, they are better defined by where they live than what they believe.

A good question: although they would be the perfect voters for an "Eisenhower" or "Rockefeller" Republican, does the GOP have potential nominees to win such a vote?  In recent years, Democrats have been poaching that vote. One need remember: neither Eisenhower nor Rockefeller offered anti-union rhetoric or policies as the current GOP does.

In 2014 they could be the margin of victory or loss for such gubernatorial incumbents as Scott in Florida, Kasich in Ohio, Snyder in Michigan, and Walker in Wisconsin. Heavily Catholic, they might take the lead of the Pope. Polish blue-collar workers are heavily unionized, so that will swing much of the Polish-American vote. The kids of Polish-American union workers who might have gone into educated professions will have no cause to betray their parents' politics.

Polish-Americans are a swing vote -- but hard to identify as voters. Surnames? They go to the ski slopes with skis for their feet if not "ski"s on their names.

[Nichlemn]

Which state in the U.S. or region has the most Polish-American vote bloc and which party can win them over in the future or does it make a difference?

The Midwest and urban areas in the Northeast have a lot of Polish Americans.  Illinois especially has a large number, even having some state agencies that give somebody an option to press "3 for Polski" on their hotlines.  Politically speaking, the Poles seem to have a voting habit very similar to the Irish, with a few exceptions (Hoover in '28, Ike in '52).  In short, they look like a traditionally Democratic group that will vote Republican for the right candidate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish-American_vote#Presidential_voting_results

Quite interesting, their votes seem pretty elastic. They've voted for the nation winner most times, and by a larger margin than the winner did nationally most of those times.

[pbrower2a]

Which state in the U.S. or region has the most Polish-American vote bloc and which party can win them over in the future or does it make a difference?

The Midwest and urban areas in the Northeast have a lot of Polish Americans.  Illinois especially has a large number, even having some state agencies that give somebody an option to press "3 for Polski" on their hotlines.  Politically speaking, the Poles seem to have a voting habit very similar to the Irish, with a few exceptions (Hoover in '28, Ike in '52).  In short, they look like a traditionally Democratic group that will vote Republican for the right candidate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish-American_vote#Presidential_voting_results

Quite interesting, their votes seem pretty elastic. They've voted for the nation winner most times, and by a larger margin than the winner did nationally most of those times.

They voted "wrong" for Humphrey in 1968 and Carter in 1980. Probably union influence. They voted heavily D in 1948, but they were concentrated heavily in states that went for Dewey. 15% of the Polish-American vote went for John Anderson in 1980, which was unusually high.

Polish-Americans may have been the swing vote in 1976 and 2000. Gerald Ford, who should have known better, made a huge gaffe on Poland; that may have cost him Ohio and the Presidential election. Al Gore snubbed some Polish-American events, including one in Florida:

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish-American_vote#Bush_presidency_.282000-2008.29

Florida. Gore lost the Polish-American vote 52-45 nationwide; reverse that and he wins New Hampshire, Ohio, and Florida. Maybe had he picked Carl Levin (Senator from Michigan) instead of Joe Lieberman for VP, he would have had someone who knew how to appeal to Polish-American Catholics without being a Polish-American Catholic.