Why is Dane County in Wisconsin so democratic

[Scottholes 2.0]

It is amazing how Dane County is a democratic stronghold given its close geographical proximity to Waukesha County, a GOP stronghold in Wisconsin. I know Madison, its county seat, skews Dane's numbers significantly leftward, but even its surrounding communities lean democratic (Middleton and Fitchburg went 73% for Hillary, Verona 66%, Stoughton 65%, and so forth). Even Milwaukee and its surrounding community don't vote democratic as much of a high margin as Dane's communities. Why is this the case? I hope this doesn't change.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

It's fast growing and the migrants to Dane probably are quite liberal as a group.

[Strudelcutie4427]

It’s full of absolute moonbats hence the name 30 square miles of nonsense surrounded by reality. It’s the Cambridge of the Midwest

[Gass3268]

It’s full of absolute moonbats hence the name 30 square miles of nonsense surrounded by reality. It’s the Cambridge of the Midwest

All three claims in this post are nonsense.

[jimrtex]

It’s full of absolute moonbats hence the name 30 square miles of nonsense surrounded by reality. It’s the Cambridge of the Midwest

All three claims in this post are nonsense.

The people are relatively moonbats, Dane County is larger than 30 square miles, and Wisconsin is not in the Midwest. So which is the Cambridge of the Midwest: Lawrence, Lincoln, or Iowa City?

[Gass3268]

It’s full of absolute moonbats hence the name 30 square miles of nonsense surrounded by reality. It’s the Cambridge of the Midwest

All three claims in this post are nonsense.

The people are relatively moonbats, Dane County is larger than 30 square miles, and Wisconsin is not in the Midwest. So which is the Cambridge of the Midwest: Lawrence, Lincoln, or Iowa City?

Probably a city close to the state's largest city, preferably with multiple universities, a strong leftwing lean, and a history of leftwing activism. Maybe Ann Arbor?

Madison being the state capital and also the economic engine of the state makes it quite different from Cambridge, MA.

[Karpatsky]

It’s full of absolute moonbats hence the name 30 square miles of nonsense surrounded by reality. It’s the Cambridge of the Midwest

All three claims in this post are nonsense.

The people are relatively moonbats, Dane County is larger than 30 square miles, and Wisconsin is not in the Midwest. So which is the Cambridge of the Midwest: Lawrence, Lincoln, or Iowa City?

Wisconsin is absolutely in the Midwest.

[MasterJedi]

It’s full of absolute moonbats hence the name 30 square miles of nonsense surrounded by reality. It’s the Cambridge of the Midwest

All three claims in this post are nonsense.

The people are relatively moonbats, Dane County is larger than 30 square miles, and Wisconsin is not in the Midwest. So which is the Cambridge of the Midwest: Lawrence, Lincoln, or Iowa City?

Probably a city close to the state's largest city, preferably with multiple universities, a strong leftwing lean, and a history of leftwing activism. Maybe Ann Arbor?

Madison being the state capital and also the economic engine of the state makes it quite different from Cambridge, MA.

Milwaukee is actually the economic engine of the state, Madison is the education/governmental engine of the state.

As for why it's so liberal the Republican party's platform right now is to shrink the government drastically, destroy the universities while cutting their budgets to skeletons and tell everyone who works in those industries that they're evil, un-American mongrels and it's not hard to see why they're so liberal.

[Strudelcutie4427]

It’s full of absolute moonbats hence the name 30 square miles of nonsense surrounded by reality. It’s the Cambridge of the Midwest

All three claims in this post are nonsense.

The people are relatively moonbats, Dane County is larger than 30 square miles, and Wisconsin is not in the Midwest. So which is the Cambridge of the Midwest: Lawrence, Lincoln, or Iowa City?

I guess "moonbats" must be conserva-speak for people with degrees or something.

Nah I can put up with normal liberals. But when you’re dealing with far left nuts from Madison SSR and Cambridge People’s Respublik, they’re a different creature entirely

[MasterJedi]

It’s full of absolute moonbats hence the name 30 square miles of nonsense surrounded by reality. It’s the Cambridge of the Midwest

All three claims in this post are nonsense.

The people are relatively moonbats, Dane County is larger than 30 square miles, and Wisconsin is not in the Midwest. So which is the Cambridge of the Midwest: Lawrence, Lincoln, or Iowa City?

Strongest economy in the state, must be doing something right. Not like all those dying, conservative small towns that are raging right now.

[mileslunn]

A lot of people living in the surrounding communities likely commute to Madison and many either work for the university or the state; both jobs where people are likely to favour the Democrats.  In Milwaukee, most work in the private sector and the main reason Milwaukee County votes heavily Democrat is due to the large African-American population whereas the surrounding suburbs are fairly white and more your typical middle class families working in the private sector as opposed to your more liberal university/government employees types.

[Indy Texas]

It’s full of absolute moonbats hence the name 30 square miles of nonsense surrounded by reality. It’s the Cambridge of the Midwest

All three claims in this post are nonsense.

The people are relatively moonbats, Dane County is larger than 30 square miles, and Wisconsin is not in the Midwest. So which is the Cambridge of the Midwest: Lawrence, Lincoln, or Iowa City?

Probably a city close to the state's largest city, preferably with multiple universities, a strong leftwing lean, and a history of leftwing activism. Maybe Ann Arbor?

Madison being the state capital and also the economic engine of the state makes it quite different from Cambridge, MA.

Milwaukee is actually the economic engine of the state, Madison is the education/governmental engine of the state.

As for why it's so liberal the Republican party's platform right now is to shrink the government drastically, destroy the universities while cutting their budgets to skeletons and tell everyone who works in those industries that they're evil, un-American mongrels and it's not hard to see why they're so liberal.

Epic Systems, Exact Sciences, and Spectrum Brands would like to have a word with you about economic engines.

Milwaukee is a bunch of middling manufacturing outfits whose best days are behind them (Harley Davidson, Johnson Controls, etc).

[Tartarus Sauce]

It’s full of absolute moonbats hence the name 30 square miles of nonsense surrounded by reality. It’s the Cambridge of the Midwest

All three claims in this post are nonsense.

The people are relatively moonbats, Dane County is larger than 30 square miles, and Wisconsin is not in the Midwest. So which is the Cambridge of the Midwest: Lawrence, Lincoln, or Iowa City?

Probably a city close to the state's largest city, preferably with multiple universities, a strong leftwing lean, and a history of leftwing activism. Maybe Ann Arbor?

Madison being the state capital and also the economic engine of the state makes it quite different from Cambridge, MA.

Milwaukee is actually the economic engine of the state, Madison is the education/governmental engine of the state.

As for why it's so liberal the Republican party's platform right now is to shrink the government drastically, destroy the universities while cutting their budgets to skeletons and tell everyone who works in those industries that they're evil, un-American mongrels and it's not hard to see why they're so liberal.

Epic Systems, Exact Sciences, and Spectrum Brands would like to have a word with you about economic engines.

Milwaukee is a bunch of middling manufacturing outfits whose best days are behind them (Harley Davidson, Johnson Controls, etc).

Milwaukee-Madison fight!

[VPH]

State employees+UWisconsin students+Dane's historical progressive leanings=Democratic hub today

[Smash255]

49% Bachelor's Degree or higher, not only the highest in the state by a decent margin, but among the highest in the country.

[TJ in Oregon]

It's mostly a product of the 1960s counterculture leaving a permanent cultural impact on the place. Without the university, that countercultural scene wouldn't have taken off, but Madison's liberalism isn't just a product of having a university and an educated workforce. These days it's not completely unfair to say that Madison is liberal because people move to it because it is liberal.

[jimrtex]

It's mostly a product of the 1960s counterculture leaving a permanent cultural impact on the place. Without the university, that countercultural scene wouldn't have taken off, but Madison's liberalism isn't just a product of having a university and an educated workforce. These days it's not completely unfair to say that Madison is liberal because people move to it because it is liberal.

The university likely serves as a filter. Students of lower academic standing, or who can't afford to live away from home, are more likely to attend one of the branches, which might also have lower tuition. UW-Madison is much larger and many, many, more graduate students. UW-Madison has 43,000 students, with 14,000 graduate students. The typical branch has around 10,000 students with 1,000 graduate students. Would-be teachers might go to a branch since most were founded as normal schools. After graduation, they could teach in a local school. They are less likely to become detached from the local community.

The capital also has an influence since people who work for the government are not likely to be opposed to expansion of government.

The geography may have an effect on the suburban cities. Madison can't expand to the north or south because of the lakes. And since it was a late developer, it has to spread out more. This permitted neighboring cities to form, which could block annexation by Madison. This did not mean that the persons who bought the houses were any different.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

The part I find odd isn't that Madison proper is so Democratic but that there's no Republican suburbs, anywhere. Especially since outer Dane is pretty rural and the towns that dot the area are basically exurbs.

[Scottholes 2.0]

^^ I've always found that odd, too.

[jimrtex]

The part I find odd isn't that Madison proper is so Democratic but that there's no Republican suburbs, anywhere. Especially since outer Dane is pretty rural and the towns that dot the area are basically exurbs.

In Wisconsin, a town is a township. You're probably referring to villages, or some cases cities.

The smaller towns were at least 25% to the right of Madison.

Trump only got 15% of the vote in Madison.

Monona was 19%. It reached a peak population decades ago after it was filled up and household sizes have since declined.

Fitchburg was 21%, and has a significant minority population (17% Hispanic, 10% Black, 5% Asian). The remaining fragments of Madison Town to the north are 28% Hispanic, 20% Black, 6% Asian.

Middleton City was also 21%. In 1950 it was a village west of Madison (Middleton Town is directly west of Madison Town). Madison City has annexed much of Middleton Town such that Middleton City is north of the western part of Madison City. The remnant of Middleton Town on the western edge of Madison was 37% for Trump. Middleton is the closest suburb other than Shorewood Hills Village to the university. Shorewood Hills is a small enclave filled with university professors and was 88 to 8 for Clinton over Trump. The next town to the west, Cross Plains was 41% for Trump.

Other suburbs were Verona 27%, Mt. Horeb 29%, Oregon 29%, McFarland 30%, Stoughton 30%, Sun Prairie 31%, DeForest 4%, Waunakee 37%, and Windsor 39%. There is a definite west and south, north and east trend. The airport is in the northern part of the eastern part of the city, and is likely close to whatever manufacturing is done, and thus is more support of a WWC. Jobs with the government and the university are more likely to be clerical, and private sectors jobs may be more based on spinoffs of university research.

You do get up over 40% in towns, particularly on the northern and eastern edges of the county.

[Scottholes 2.0]

Those republican margins are still relatively small for suburbs, though. Dane County is still very democratic for a county that's mostly rural (outside of its principal city, Madison).

[MasterJedi]

It’s full of absolute moonbats hence the name 30 square miles of nonsense surrounded by reality. It’s the Cambridge of the Midwest

All three claims in this post are nonsense.

The people are relatively moonbats, Dane County is larger than 30 square miles, and Wisconsin is not in the Midwest. So which is the Cambridge of the Midwest: Lawrence, Lincoln, or Iowa City?

Probably a city close to the state's largest city, preferably with multiple universities, a strong leftwing lean, and a history of leftwing activism. Maybe Ann Arbor?

Madison being the state capital and also the economic engine of the state makes it quite different from Cambridge, MA.

Milwaukee is actually the economic engine of the state, Madison is the education/governmental engine of the state.

As for why it's so liberal the Republican party's platform right now is to shrink the government drastically, destroy the universities while cutting their budgets to skeletons and tell everyone who works in those industries that they're evil, un-American mongrels and it's not hard to see why they're so liberal.

Epic Systems, Exact Sciences, and Spectrum Brands would like to have a word with you about economic engines.

Milwaukee is a bunch of middling manufacturing outfits whose best days are behind them (Harley Davidson, Johnson Controls, etc).

Northwestern Mutual, Johnson Controls, Fiserv, Manpower, Rockwell, Kohls, so basically 6 fortune 500 companies and many, many more.

Madison is a very strong economy but it is NOT the economic engine of the state. It's also a bubble with many people in Madison having no idea about Milwaukee at all and never going there, while people here love to go to the capital.

Edit: As a side note Epic basically treats new hires as trash, they're basically a meat grinder for new tech grads. Very long work, not good pay/benefits, they eat them up and spit almost all out.

[ilikeverin]

I think it's particularly interesting to think about this in the context of the other Midwestern cities with large state universities in/very near their capitols: Columbus, the Twin Cities, and Lansing.  To me, as an MSU grad, it never seemed like Michigan State was perceived to be as central to the well-being of the city as UW-Madison is to Madison.  But I couldn't explain to you why the two cities are oriented so differently (except, maybe, UW-Madison IS actually central in Madison, while MSU is off in East Lansing).

[ملكة كرينجيتوك]

Milwaukee is actually the economic engine of the state, Madison is the education/governmental engine of the state.

As for why it's so liberal the Republican party's platform right now is to shrink the government drastically, destroy the universities while cutting their budgets to skeletons and tell everyone who works in those industries that they're evil, un-American mongrels and it's not hard to see why they're so liberal.

Epic Systems, Exact Sciences, and Spectrum Brands would like to have a word with you about economic engines.

Milwaukee is a bunch of middling manufacturing outfits whose best days are behind them (Harley Davidson, Johnson Controls, etc).

Northwestern Mutual, Johnson Controls, Fiserv, Manpower, Rockwell, Kohls, so basically 6 fortune 500 companies and many, many more.

Madison is a very strong economy but it is NOT the economic engine of the state. It's also a bubble with many people in Madison having no idea about Milwaukee at all and never going there, while people here love to go to the capital.

Edit: As a side note Epic basically treats new hires as trash, they're basically a meat grinder for new tech grads. Very long work, not good pay/benefits, they eat them up and spit almost all out.

I was considering applying to Epic during a career fair but didn't want to relocate to Wisconsin. Had no idea they treat their employees like Amazon does.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

If you go back to say the 1960's and before, college town areas, particularly those in Yankee white and Scandinavian areas would most certainly be Republican because of the wealth gap of those who attended college versus those who don't. Beginning in the 1960's with a diversification of professions in the elite sectors and also with the generational dynamics at play, is when these areas shifted heavily to the left and heavily towards the Democrats. The same thing happened in places like Ithaca and Ann Arbor.