Northern whites would be much more Liberal and European like, without the racial polarization.
Like they are in Iowa and rural MI? Keep in mind the places in the north with large black populations like Chicago and Detriot have fairly liberal white populations. Racial polarization in the midwest isn't like the south
It wasn't that way back in the 1960's, 70's, and 80's. Urban ethnic whites joined forces with high end Republican suburbia to give Nixon his victories in key industrial states like MI, ILL, OH and also CA. The same thing happened in 1980 with Reagan, added by Anderson peeling off liberals in those cities as well.
Macomb was one of the few counties to vote for Humphrey in 1968 in MI giving him the victory there.