Juding by these maps, Western Ohio (minus the cities) has long been the most conservative part. Why?

[kyle19125]

Originally Posted by Doughboy1918

Umm no, I'm referring to Miami University, located in Oxford, Ohio, in Butler County. Despite being majority republican, local bachelor's degree attainment throughout the whole county is 31% which is very close to average. Look.
https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fa...o,US/PST045222

Ok, and what? Miami University tips the educational attainment closer to normal for an area that is otherwise largely agricultural. Are you trying to make the argument that red areas aren't as undereducated as they're made out to be? If so it's kind of a lousy argument here.

[Doughboy1918]

Originally Posted by kyle19125

Ok, and what? Miami University tips the educational attainment closer to normal for an area that is otherwise largely agricultural. Are you trying to make the argument that red areas aren't as undereducated as they're made out to be? If so it's kind of a lousy argument here.

Butler County is overwhelmingly made up of suburbs and old industrial towns. It is generally 60% Republican, 40% Democratic. I have no idea what you yourself are trying to argue. Like I said as well, several areas of the country that are predominately agricultural also have high education attainment, look at Iowa for example.

[ohio_peasant]

Farming.

All over the world, farmers tend to be more conservative... especially affluent, settled farmers (as opposed to migrants, share-croppers or what formerly was called "peasants"). As the landed gentry moved into the city, and salaried professionals moved leftwards, farmers remained as the redoubtable conservatives. Western Ohio is more farm-oriented than eastern (and especially north-eastern).

Of note, is the split between the three tribes of conservatives: socio-religious conservatives, business/investment conservatives, and ethno-nationalistic conservatives. This split has been operative for several generations, resulting in swing-voting even in Republican-dominated districts, depending on the flavor of conservatism of the leading candidates at the time. Today, we have a national Republican figure who has largely banished the business/investment tribe, and united the other two tribes into a powerful alliance that appeals to socially conservative minorities, devoutly religious people across the income spectrum, rural people, and really... anyone outside of the professional/technical/well-educated circles. This has overall pulled Ohio to the right, and in particular western Ohio. Imagine if instead we had a presidential candidate such as Papa Bush, McCain or Romney. Such a candidate would resoundingly lose Ohio, even in its western part.

[Wytempest]

Originally Posted by PerryMason614

Why? Because Republicans want Reaganism, not RINOism, and Trump is captures that modern day Reagan spirit better than anybody else.

We want the federal government cut, their functions sent back to the states. The federal government is an overgrown, out of control cesspool hijacked by activists. Nobody can control it.

Bush 43 was a RINO who gave lip service to Reaganism, that's why he barely squeaked by.

Trump is hitting all the high notes that we want. Strong economy, reduced immigration, clean up elections, shut down Washington except for its essential functions, drill baby drill, promote American industry, etc.

Well stated.

I grew up in S/SE Ohio. That area is the most conservative place I've personally ever been/seen.

Wyoming is considered extremely conservative. We moved to Wyoming 30 years ago
because of the wildness, remoteness, etc among other reasons but had nothing to do with politics at the time. Wyoming is in no way, even in the slightest as conservative as where I am from in Ohio. I love Wy and great Lord willing will die here. Majority of Wy people, ( mostly natives) are conservative in voting yes but not how they live. They get theirs regardless of what it takes. Very much like rinos/leftist.

Talk of highly educated has also baffled me, unless its reflective of time spent on your arse with nose in book in college. I' ve worked with many, many highly educated people from all over the world in my career yet common sense, street smarts, intuition must have never been on the curriculum.

I slid through school, barely and only because of sports. Yet great Lord's grace, we excelled IMO. Im very appreciative of the education I received.

W Ohio sounds like a great place to live!

[Doughboy1918]

Originally Posted by Wytempest

unless its reflective of time spent on your arse with nose in book in college.

You use 'arse' instead of ass? Ha! That's definitely rare in American vernacular. I'm guessing you've spent a lot of time with British people, no?

[Tex?Il?]

Originally Posted by Wytempest

Well stated.

I grew up in S/SE Ohio. That area is the most conservative place I've personally ever been/seen.

Wyoming is considered extremely conservative. We moved to Wyoming 30 years ago
because of the wildness, remoteness, etc among other reasons but had nothing to do with politics at the time. Wyoming is in no way, even in the slightest as conservative as where I am from in Ohio. I love Wy and great Lord willing will die here. Majority of Wy people, ( mostly natives) are conservative in voting yes but not how they live. They get theirs regardless of what it takes. Very much like rinos/leftist.

Talk of highly educated has also baffled me, unless its reflective of time spent on your arse with nose in book in college. I' ve worked with many, many highly educated people from all over the world in my career yet common sense, street smarts, intuition must have never been on the curriculum.

I slid through school, barely and only because of sports. Yet great Lord's grace, we excelled IMO. Im very appreciative of the education I received.

W Ohio sounds like a great place to live!

Just out of curiosity, how do you define "conservative"?

[ohio_peasant]

Originally Posted by Wytempest

Talk of highly educated has also baffled me, unless its reflective of time spent on your arse with nose in book in college. I' ve worked with many, many highly educated people from all over the world in my career yet common sense, street smarts, intuition must have never been on the curriculum.

I slid through school, barely and only because of sports. Yet great Lord's grace, we excelled IMO. Im very appreciative of the education I received.

A paramount political distinction today, is precisely how we view the above. What weight is placed on formal academic education, vs. the intuitive or even instinctual improvisation of "street smarts"? Much is said of the wedge-issues, our reaction to public spending vs. individualism, the ethical dilemmas of the moment, trust or mistrust in government, what's meant by "democracy" (and how that differs from a "constitutional republic"), and so on. We need not recite a lengthy list here. But how important are these issues, really?

Politics are most fraught, not in narrowly political things, such as whether to raise taxes or to lower them; but where politics intersect with culture. On the one side, we have persons for whom it's axiomatic that any able person ought to pursue education; that formal education is the foundation for lifelong learning, predicated on "books" or their digital equivalent. Failing to do this, is very much a failure to excel in life, a failure to live life to the fullest. On the other side, we have the belief that formal schooling is effete and indulgent frippery, a waste, a misallocation of our human capital. Tension between these two sides, I contend, is the real political divide facing us today... because it's also a cultural divide, and culture is deeper than politics.

One might argue that the Ohio conservative of 100 years ago, would have embraced formal education as a great boon and merit, and would have been much disappointed if his children were disinclined towards such education. Sometimes, being a conservative meant isolationism; other times, international intervention. Sometimes it meant tariffs; other times, free-trade. The narrowly political topics could have gone one way or the other. But I can't imagine a Taft or a Harding denigrating the "highly educated" or believing that "common sense" can replace a university degree, never mind actually being superior to it.

[5Lakes]

This is relevant, albeit getting a bit dated:
https://www.uakron.edu/bliss/researc...five-ohios.dot

I can speak best of northeastern Ohio, where a lot of former democrats became Trump voters. This transition is largely due to globalist economic and open immigration policies. This subset of voters were not Reaganites.

[Doughboy1918]

Originally Posted by 5Lakes

This is relevant, albeit getting a bit dated:
https://www.uakron.edu/bliss/researc...five-ohios.dot

I can speak best of northeastern Ohio, where a lot of former democrats became Trump voters. This transition is largely due to globalist economic and open immigration policies. This subset of voters were not Reaganites.

Very good article. Thanks for that.

[schmave]

Originally Posted by Wytempest

Well stated.

I grew up in S/SE Ohio. That area is the most conservative place I've personally ever been/seen.

Wyoming is considered extremely conservative. We moved to Wyoming 30 years ago
because of the wildness, remoteness, etc among other reasons but had nothing to do with politics at the time. Wyoming is in no way, even in the slightest as conservative as where I am from in Ohio. I love Wy and great Lord willing will die here. Majority of Wy people, ( mostly natives) are conservative in voting yes but not how they live. They get theirs regardless of what it takes. Very much like rinos/leftist.

Talk of highly educated has also baffled me, unless its reflective of time spent on your arse with nose in book in college. I' ve worked with many, many highly educated people from all over the world in my career yet common sense, street smarts, intuition must have never been on the curriculum.

I slid through school, barely and only because of sports. Yet great Lord's grace, we excelled IMO. Im very appreciative of the education I received.

W Ohio sounds like a great place to live!

It is. My mother is from squarely in the middle of that red area, Auglaize County to be exact. I consider myself really lucky to have roots in that area even though I grew up in Columbus and live in the suburbs now.
I am not surprised that at least one swipe has been taken in this thread at the alleged education level of western Ohioans. I don't mean ohio_peasant's recent post either, because it's clearly well thought when it comes to this subject. Talk of education is par for the course when it comes to discussing conservative areas, but for my $ the reason why it's such a conservative area has already been stated. A lot of farming in that part of the state, and much of that region is deeply German Catholic. 5Lakes' post is spot on, too.