Name Two States That a Very Similar Politically...

[Cashcow]

The Upper Penninsula is quite similar to Southwestern PA and the Coal Belt.

False

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You could argue the Grand Rapids area, which is heavily conservative and surrounded by significant cities (Holland, Kalamazoo, Battle Creek, etc.)

I do not agree with your assessment.

@RJ: The lake is between Ontario and Pennsylvania, not Michigan and Pennsylvania.

[Cashcow]

The Upper Penninsula is quite similar to Southwestern PA and the Coal Belt.

False

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You could argue the Grand Rapids area, which is heavily conservative and surrounded by significant cities (Holland, Kalamazoo, Battle Creek, etc.)

I do not agree with your assessment.

@RJ: The lake is between Ontario and Pennsylvania, not Michigan and Pennsylvania.

Could you add a little more than that?

The UP is essentially what you would imagine rural Canada to be - liberal, but not beyond normal bounds. Most areas vote Republican due to economic libertarianism. It is very hands-off, and I wouldn't describe it as even leaning socially conservative. A much better example would be northern Minnesota/Duluth (though I can't say I've ever been there).

[Cashcow]

The Upper Penninsula is quite similar to Southwestern PA and the Coal Belt.

False

You must be logged in to read this quote.

You could argue the Grand Rapids area, which is heavily conservative and surrounded by significant cities (Holland, Kalamazoo, Battle Creek, etc.)

I do not agree with your assessment.

@RJ: The lake is between Ontario and Pennsylvania, not Michigan and Pennsylvania.

Could you add a little more than that?

The UP is essentially what you would imagine rural Canada to be - liberal, but not beyond normal bounds. Most areas vote Republican due to economic libertarianism. It is very hands-off, and I wouldn't describe it as even leaning socially conservative. A much better example would be northern Minnesota/Duluth (though I can't say I've ever been there).

Interesting.  I was wrong then, it seems.  What is the Northern Lower Pennisula like?

Quite different actually. The UP is really just a series of lake communities - and very nice ones at that. 

It must be noted that Michigan and Wisconsin created the Republican Party. These states have a very proud history, and much of that is retained in the minor urban areas. The economically liberal Democrats have never really connected with much of the upper midwest, especially some of the more affluent MI lower peninsula farmers - this puts it at odds with western Wisconsin and especially the socially liberal upper peninsula.

Southwest Michigan is conservative to the core. Southeast Michigan is liberal to the core. An interesting state, indeed.

I hope I've cleared some things up The rest of your description makes perfect sense by the way.


Edit: Take a look at this map from the 1988 Presidential Election. Probably had something to do with the farm crisis, but it does point out a significant difference between the peninsulas:

[Cashcow]

Most areas vote Republican due to economic libertarianism.

Since when was Bart Stupak an "economic libertarian"?

Since when was Mitt Romney a liberal?

Claiming that the UP is similar to a populist Pennsylvania coal-mining region is false. It is much, much more of a hands-off area.

[Cashcow]

I didn't make the claim, but while there are differences (PA coalfields do tend to be more socially conservative, and more Catholic, than the UP is) there are plently of similarities as well. Mind you the western and central parts of the UP (where most of the people live) are politically quite different to the eastern part.

While it's true that the Marquette area is probably more liberal than the SSM/Mackinac part, neither can effectively be compared to the coal mining regions of Pennsylvania, which are basically West Virginia lite... in fact, I don't think it really connects to anywhere in the upper midwest; Duluth is stretching it. Similar voting patterns don't mean a thing.

You won't find any Bob Caseys in Northern Michigan.

[Cashcow]

While it's true that the Marquette area is probably more liberal than the SSM/Mackinac part, neither can effectively be compared to the coal mining regions of Pennsylvania,

I don't really see why not; despite the differences (which are largely (but not entirely) due to the different ethnic composition of the two areas) they are *reasonably* similer; certainly *not* an exact match though.

You have yet to provide any reason why the Upper Peninsula of Michigan can be compared to the populists of Western Pennsylvania. The differences are not only due to ethnicity, but type of land, economy, etc.

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Actually, still much less religious compared to central Pennsylvania.

[Cashcow]

The differences are not only due to ethnicity, but type of land, economy, etc.

The historical economic structure (which is what generally determines voting patterns) of most of the UP is similer to the most of the PA coalfields; based around primaries industries the products of which were then exported to larger industrial centres.
Now when you go into more detail, differences emerge (coal in PA as opposed to Iron and Copper in MI, the use of a lake for transportation as opposed to rivers etc)... although there's a lot of differences between different PA coalfields; labor disputes were always more violent in the Anthracite Region than out West.

And when you factor in the major religious and ethnic differences, you get two entirely different regions that sometimes have similar voting patterns. Wow.