Why is Kosciusko county Indiana so Republican?

[lfromnj]

What ethnic group primarily settled there? The name of the county would suggest Poles but obviously Kosciusko is older than most Eastern European immigration and he was also an American war hero.

Mccain almost got 70% here in 08 which is crazy. Its not that different from its surroundings now but still.

Even if Poles were attracted here, aren't they usually a more D leaning demographic?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Well the county seat is called Warsaw...but it doesn't appear to have many Poles there.

However it is close to Elkhart County which has a bunch of Amish and Mennonite. Possible spillover from there without the Elkhart urban population to slightly balance it?

[Never Made it to Graceland]

Even if Poles were attracted here, aren't they usually a more D leaning demographic?

Not really. Maybe in the 1930s but they're pretty similar now to any white American ethnic grouping. I discussed it extensively a couple of months ago when we were debating trump support in rural northern areas.

[Bismarck]

Not many poles there despite the name. Mostly Germans.
It is more republican because it has a Fortune 500 company HQ there. So it’s the type of rich people who like to live in a small town. Small town rich people are the most republican demographic (outside of mountain resort towns).

[Alcibiades]

It’s quite German, pretty Protestant, with some (though not a huge amount of) Amish. As mentioned, it’s got quite a lot of business activity, most notably the DePuy orthopaedic company which has brought associated support businesses.

[lfromnj]

It’s quite German, pretty Protestant, with some (though not a huge amount of) Amish. As mentioned, it’s got quite a lot of business activity, most notably the DePuy orthopaedic company which has brought associated support businesses.

The county next door Noble county is also similar ancestry wise but was much less Republican

[jimrtex]

Oddly it was the 32nd most Republican county in 2020, after dropping to 13th in 2016. If one looks at the 2020 results, one would conclude that it voted just like its neighbors. Trump gained support in southern Indiana in areas that were historically more Democratic leaning. Perhaps those associated with Dupuy were concerned about the repeal of the ACA harming their business.

It had been number 1 from 2000-2012, and in the Top 5 since the 1930s.

Indiana was settled south to north, and you have Kosckiusko, Steuben, and Pulaski named for foreign generals who had served in the American Revolution, likely promoted by veterans or their children in the legislature. You also have Washington, Rush, Greene, Marion, Montgomery, Morgan, Putnam, Knox, Warren, and Wayne counties, without getting into Jay, Randolph, Henry, Madison, Adams, and Carroll.

[StateBoiler]

Live near it.

Kosciusko (or Warsaw which is the county seat) is the Orthopedics Capital of the country if not the world. It manufactures a ton of them which is the heavy employer for the area. Little in the way of blacks but has a lot of immigrants from Mexico and Guatemala that live there. My wife works in the school corporation and they're one of the few football 6A schools north of Indianapolis outside of Fort Wayne.

Interesting point, if you look up at history, the Prohibition Party had a couple of their past-their-prime national conventions in the county at Winona Lake, which is a (modern-day) rich section of Warsaw, in 1948 and 1960, that hosts a small private Christian college named Grace College. A smaller town in the county Milford had it in 1956.

(Indiana must have been a base of past-its-prime Prohibition politics, unless it was due to being a central location nationally. Here's national convention sites.)

1932-Indianapolis
1944-Indianapolis
1948-Winona Lake, Indiana
1952-Indianapolis
1956-Milford, Indiana
1960-Winona Lake, Indiana
...and way later in 2008-Indianapolis