Why is Dane County in Wisconsin so democratic

[jimrtex]

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).

Lansing had a significant automobile production. It was the headquarters for Oldsmobile before GM was created. Ingham County has been stagnant since 1980, and Lansing has lost population since 1970. Eaton has a had an increase but that is slowing. Clinton is still growing. From 1970 to 2010, the 3-county area grew at 0.5%.

MSU is the Ag School in Michigan, while UW-Madison is the major university in Wisconsin. Michigan not only has U of Michigan, but Wayne State, CMU, EMU, WMU, Grand Valley State, and Oakland are all large institutions. Only UW-Milwaukee is of comparable size in Wisconsin, and by its location is not going to have a dominating campus culture.

[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.

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.

Unless they are going to a sporting event, Summerfest or a concert.

[Tartarus Sauce]

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.

This actually makes Dane County's political history even more noteworthy, because while Tompkins County and Washtenaw County didn't vote Democratic during the 20th century before 1964 other than in 1912, Dane County started its Democratic streak in 1932 with FDR and was only briefly interrupted by narrow wins by Eisenhower in '52 and '56.

[jimrtex]

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.

This actually makes Dane County's political history even more noteworthy, because while Tompkins County and Washtenaw County didn't vote Democratic during the 20th century before 1964 other than in 1912, Dane County started its Democratic streak in 1932 with FDR and was only briefly interrupted by narrow wins by Eisenhower in '52 and '56.

Robert LaFollette was from Dane County (Primrose) and his son Robert LaFollete, Jr. was born in Madison. When Fighting Bob ran for President in 1924 he carried Dane (63P/31R/5D). Young Bob was elected in a special election in 1925 to succeed his father, and was re-elected in 1928, both times as a Republican. But he was elected in 1934 and 1940 as a Progressive. In 1934, it was (48P, 24D, 23R, 5S). In 1940, it was (45P, 41R, 13D). Since FDR carried Wisconsin 51-45, there must have been a lot of LaFollette-Roosevelt voters. In 1946, LaFollette ran in the Republican primary and lost to Joe McCarthy. This likely led Progressives to give up on the Republican Party.

Both Fighting Bob and his son Phillip LaFollete (young Bob's brother) had been elected DA for Dane County, and both had been elected governor, serving in Madison of course. The two Robert LaFollete's had been US Senator for 40 years from 1906-1946, elected first by the legislature and then popular vote.

In 1932, Dane was FDR's 62nd strongest county, -7% below the state level.
In 1936, Dane was FDR's 11th strongest county, +4% above the state level.
In 1940, Dane was FDR's 3rd strongest county, +14% above the state level.

In 1890, when Fighting Bob was defeated in a bid for re-election to the US House, at least some of the reason was attributed to a state law that had required public education to be conducted in English (1890 was also a national watershed election, as Republicans went from a small majority in the House, to 27% member). Wisconsin went from a 7R:2D delegation to a 0R:9D delegation. An English instruction law would have much more impact in Wisconsin with its large German and Scandinavian populations, while Michigan was much more a case of Yankee settlement. There might not have even been reason to propose such a law in Michigan. Immigration (and migration) to Michigan came later, after development of the auto industry.

Washtenaw is also kind of a suburb of Detroit. Michigan politics are more strongly influenced by us vs. them rest of state vs. Detroit, because of Detroit's massive size.

I was looking at trends over time. Dane was the weakest county for Wallace (1968), Schmitz (1972), Perot (1992), and Perot (1996). It was the strongest county for McCarthy (1976), Anderson-Lucey (1980), and Nader (2000). It was not particularly strong for Stein (2016).

Dane was also quite weak for Socialist candidates in the first 1/3 of the 20th Century - when they were finishing 2nd in Milwaukee.

Dane fell down in the rankings for JFK (1960) when it was 14th, and Carter (1976) when it was 19th. This may be due to more populist support for these candidates elsewhere, or disdain for less intellectual candidates compared to Stevenson and McGovern.

Dane has been 2nd in Democratic support since 2004, behind only Menominee, which is coincident with a reservation. Before then it sometimes was behind counties like Douglas, Ashland, Iron, Portage, etc.

In recent elections, Milwaukee has approached Dane's level of Democratic support, but this is primarily due to differentiation from the WOW counties. Incidentally, it appears that Ozaukee is becoming a bit to the left of Washington and Waukesha. Historically it was a bit to the right. This may be due to the cities of Waukesha and West Bend providing a bit of an industrial base, which is relatively less important due to the onslaught of the suburbs, while Ozaukee is north of the wealthy Democratic suburbs north of Milwaukee, and long-term growth of the black population to the north.

The next question is why is Portage so Democratic, and neighboring Waupaca and Waushara so Republican. I don't see any significant industry located in Stevens Point. I see that Portage has a very high population of Polish descent. Why is that, and when did it occur? OK, I find that it was rural settlement after the Civil War, when a Polish Catholic Church was established and the northeastern part of the county drew other Poles to the area.

In 2016, Rosholt and Sharon towns had 34% and 30% swing to the Republicans. Why is that?

[MasterJedi]

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.

If you can make it through that phase it's a good place to work.

[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.

This actually makes Dane County's political history even more noteworthy, because while Tompkins County and Washtenaw County didn't vote Democratic during the 20th century before 1964 other than in 1912, Dane County started its Democratic streak in 1932 with FDR and was only briefly interrupted by narrow wins by Eisenhower in '52 and '56.

The situation in WI and MN need to be considered separately from the rest of the northern states in this regard, though the process certainly happened in the course of the New Deal period, this was more towards the beginning as opposed to the end of it.

A big factor was progressive traditions at work, which helped feed FDR's vote totals, particularly by 1936. Starting in 1940, Republican gains relatively were centered in isolationist and anti-war places, or among people hostile to aspects of the New Deal. In Wisconsin, this would be among German and Irish Catholics, while Democrats continued to gain among Scandinavians.

[Tartarus Sauce]

The next question is why is Portage so Democratic, and neighboring Waupaca and Waushara so Republican. I don't see any significant industry located in Stevens Point. I see that Portage has a very high population of Polish descent. Why is that, and when did it occur? OK, I find that it was rural settlement after the Civil War, when a Polish Catholic Church was established and the northeastern part of the county drew other Poles to the area.

In 2016, Rosholt and Sharon towns had 34% and 30% swing to the Republicans. Why is that?

Worth noting that Steven's Point has a decently large UW campus located there.

[jimrtex]

The next question is why is Portage so Democratic, and neighboring Waupaca and Waushara so Republican. I don't see any significant industry located in Stevens Point. I see that Portage has a very high population of Polish descent. Why is that, and when did it occur? OK, I find that it was rural settlement after the Civil War, when a Polish Catholic Church was established and the northeastern part of the county drew other Poles to the area.

In 2016, Rosholt and Sharon towns had 34% and 30% swing to the Republicans. Why is that?

Worth noting that Steven's Point has a decently large UW campus located there.

It goes way back - to at least 1916, More remarkable is that neighbors Waupaca and Wuashare are among the most Republican counties in the state.

In 1916, Portage was Wilson's 4th strongest county, while Waupaca and Waushare were 1st and 4th weakest.

Why would historically Polish rural settlements swing 34% and 30% to Trump.

In some recent gubernatorial elections it has been Stevens Point keeping the county Democratic.