Why is rural New Brunswick more right-wing than rural Nova Scotia?

[King of Kensington]

Both provinces have lots of socially conservative Baptists and the difference in incomes isn't dramatic if you don't include Halifax. Yet the Conservatives do much better in rural New Brunswick than rural mainland Nova Scotia* (Reform/Alliance did better as well).  Does NB just have more "purely" rural ridings with less industry, unionized workers etc.?  Linguistic tensions driving anglophones to the right?  Less of a "Maritime" political identity in NB?  Halifax influence in NS?

* Should exclude Cape Breton too given its industrial heritage.

For example in 2011, the Conservatives received a majority of votes in 4 ridings in NB and 2 in NS. 

In 2008, the Conservatives got a majority in 3 NS ridings and none in NS.

Going back furter to 2000, the Canadian Alliance got over 20% in three NB ridings and 30% in Tobique-Mataquac.  In NS, they got in the teens at most.

[DC Al Fine]

There's three main reasons

1) New Brunswick is much more Evangelical
While Nova Scotia is more Evangelical than the rest of Canada, New Brunswick is even more so. E.g. A typical riding might be 5% Evangelical*. Cumberland-Colchester is 12%, Tobique-Mactaquac is 25%.

2) New Brunswick is Polarized on Linguistic Lines
Like Kensington said, the Anglo-Franco divide drives Anglos in New Brunswick right. The divide is much weaker in Nova Scotia and voting has more to do with local factors.

3) Nova Scotia is more industrialized
Rural Nova Scotia has a decent number of large industrial employers, while rural New Brunswick is mostly the farming/fishing/forestry trifecta. E.g. The largest employer in South Shore-St. Margaret's is a tire factory in Bridgewater. Bridgewater votes NDP.

*StatsCan does a terrible job of categorizing religions. For my purposes Evangelical = Baptist + Pentecostal

[Hatman 🍁]

Baptists

[King of Kensington]

The 2 most Baptist ridings are West Nova (22%) and Tobique-Mactaquac (19%).  In both of these ridings Baptists outnumbered Anglicans, United Church and Presbyterians combined.

Next is Fundy Royal (18%), Kings-Hants (17%), and New Brunswick Southwest (16%).

[DC Al Fine]

The 2 most Baptist ridings are West Nova (22%) and Tobique-Mactaquac (19%).  In both of these ridings Baptists outnumbered Anglicans, United Church and Presbyterians combined.

Next is Fundy Royal (18%), Kings-Hants (17%), and New Brunswick Southwest (16%).

The difference is larger if you consider other Evangelical groups. Pentecostals have a significantly larger market share in rural Anglo New Brunswick as do "Other Christian". Now "Other Christian" includes a lots of non-Evangelical stuff like Mormon, JW, Dutch Reformed etc, but its a pretty good proxy for generic evangelicalism.

However, I see your point. The difference in Evangelicals is nowhere near enough to account for the difference and in Nova Scotia, the most conservative ridings are mostly mainlines!

With that in mind I suggest the linguistic divide is the deciding factor.

[Hatman 🍁]

The 2 most Baptist ridings are West Nova (22%) and Tobique-Mactaquac (19%).  In both of these ridings Baptists outnumbered Anglicans, United Church and Presbyterians combined.

Next is Fundy Royal (18%), Kings-Hants (17%), and New Brunswick Southwest (16%).

Wow. Why is West Nova so Liberal then?

[DC Al Fine]

The 2 most Baptist ridings are West Nova (22%) and Tobique-Mactaquac (19%).  In both of these ridings Baptists outnumbered Anglicans, United Church and Presbyterians combined.

Next is Fundy Royal (18%), Kings-Hants (17%), and New Brunswick Southwest (16%).

Wow. Why is West Nova so Liberal then?

1) It has a decent sized Acadian minority that votes overwhelmingly Liberal.
2) Annapolis County is ancestrally Liberal and still hasn't kicked the habit besides being the most Baptist county in Nova Scotia. Think Chatham-Kent's voting habits up until very recently.