What party owns small town values?

[cope1989]

You hear a lot about small town values, and I think most people have an idea of what they mean. I'd say it means knowing your neighbors, helping those in need, civic involvement, valuing tradition, perhaps modesty and humility.

But take for example, two very small towns. One is in Vermont and one is in Kansas. People in both communities will probably subscribe to a lot of the values listed above, yet most people in the Vermont town will vote Democrat, while most in the small town in Kansas will vote Republican.

With that being said, can either party lay claim to the values of small town Americans? And what causes the voters in these two towns to vote the way they do? Does the fact that they live in a small town have anything to do with it or are other factors more important?

[freepcrusher]

You hear a lot about small town values, and I think most people have an idea of what they mean. I'd say it means knowing your neighbors, helping those in need, civic involvement, valuing tradition, perhaps modesty and humility.

But take for example, two very small towns. One is in Vermont and one is in Kansas. People in both communities will probably subscribe to a lot of the values listed above, yet most people in the Vermont town will vote Democrat, while most in the small town in Kansas will vote Republican.

With that being said, can either party lay claim to the values of small town Americans? And what causes the voters in these two towns to vote the way they do? Does the fact that they live in a small town have anything to do with it or are other factors more important?

it's pretty much a subjective question. What small town values is in your opinion may be entirely different than someone elses idealization of small town values.

[Sibboleth]

You hear a lot about small town values, and I think most people have an idea of what they mean. I'd say it means knowing your neighbors, helping those in need, civic involvement, valuing tradition, perhaps modesty and humility.

No one who actually believes that has ever lived anywhere remotely rural. Fact.

[CathKhan]

You hear a lot about small town values, and I think most people have an idea of what they mean. I'd say it means knowing your neighbors, helping those in need, civic involvement, valuing tradition, perhaps modesty and humility.

No one who actually believes that has ever lived anywhere remotely rural. Fact.

I have no idea who my neighbors are or what our local traditions are. Civic involvement? What's that? And I don't talk that much to my neighbors, so I wouldn't know if they're modest or humble.
-Cathcon, small town resident

[Senator Napoleon]

Republicans, and they can have those voters as far as I am concerned.

[muon2]

This graph is from a 2006 study called "Purple America". The data is from the General Social Survey from 1977 to 2002 and measures economic and social responses separately.



The data shows that rural voters are skewed more conservatively on both economic and social issues. Suburban voters match rural voters on economic issues, but suburbanites match urban voters on social issues. Based on this I would answer the OP that the GOP better matches small town values.

[Holmes]

Republicans, and they can have those voters as far as I am concerned.

Please try not to perpetuate the "elitist northeasterner" stereotype.

[asexual trans victimologist]

Republicans, and they can have those voters as far as I am concerned.

Please try not to perpetuate the "elitist northeasterner" stereotype.

Those of us who are from rural parts of the Northeast primarily agree with this request but quite frankly many (not all) other rural parts of the country just baffle me.

[freepcrusher]

one rural area I'm surprised is very democrat is Western Massachusetts. It's the most rural part of the state and has somewhat of an appalachian feel. The area it borders in NY was represented in the 80s and 90s by Gerald BH Solomon who was a full-on freeper. Yet the area tends to go 65-70% democrat. I've heard there's a large population of rural gays out there so that might explain some of it.

[asexual trans victimologist]

one rural area I'm surprised is very democrat is Western Massachusetts. It's the most rural part of the state and has somewhat of an appalachian feel. The area it borders in NY was represented in the 80s and 90s by Gerald BH Solomon who was a full-on freeper. Yet the area tends to go 65-70% democrat. I've heard there's a large population of rural gays out there so that might explain some of it.

It was liberal in some sense even before it was Democratic; for a long time it was represented by Silvio O. Conte in the House of Representatives. It has similar farming practices to nearby Vermont (which are often concomitant with environmentalist politics) and a few small former industrial cities that have been voting for left-wing economics for a while. There is also, yes, the phenomenon of Northampton, which is one of the most heavily lesbian places on the planet and one of a disproportionate number of college towns for a region of Western Massachusetts's size.

The counties bordering Massachusetts that you were mentioning are also more Democratic than they used to be, though they're still in a tilt-R broader area.

[Progressive Realist]

"Small town values" are a myth. I mean, sure, small towns in the US were more vibrant in decades past. But nowadays? A lot of the small towns in interior California, to take one example, are depressing places.

[freepcrusher]

one rural area I'm surprised is very democrat is Western Massachusetts. It's the most rural part of the state and has somewhat of an appalachian feel. The area it borders in NY was represented in the 80s and 90s by Gerald BH Solomon who was a full-on freeper. Yet the area tends to go 65-70% democrat. I've heard there's a large population of rural gays out there so that might explain some of it.

It was liberal in some sense even before it was Democratic; for a long time it was represented by Silvio O. Conte in the House of Representatives. It has similar farming practices to nearby Vermont (which are often concomitant with environmentalist politics) and a few small former industrial cities that have been voting for left-wing economics for a while. There is also, yes, the phenomenon of Northampton, which is one of the most heavily lesbian places on the planet and one of a disproportionate number of college towns for a region of Western Massachusetts's size.

The counties bordering Massachusetts that you were mentioning are also more Democratic than they used to be, though they're still in a tilt-R broader area.

Ah yes, Sil Conte. Had he not died, he probably would have become appropriations chairman. Wasn't he a republican though (and pro-life)?

[Senator Napoleon]

Republicans, and they can have those voters as far as I am concerned.

Please try not to perpetuate the "elitist northeasterner" stereotype.

Those of us who are from rural parts of the Northeast primarily agree with this request but quite frankly many (not all) other rural parts of the country just baffle me.

I've lived in urban, suburban, and rural Connecticut.

[Governor Scott]

The Republicans, sadly.

Though I live in a fairly rural part of Connecticut.  My town's fairly swingish, having gone for Obama in 2008 and Linda McMahon/Mark Foley in 2010.

[asexual trans victimologist]

one rural area I'm surprised is very democrat is Western Massachusetts. It's the most rural part of the state and has somewhat of an appalachian feel. The area it borders in NY was represented in the 80s and 90s by Gerald BH Solomon who was a full-on freeper. Yet the area tends to go 65-70% democrat. I've heard there's a large population of rural gays out there so that might explain some of it.

It was liberal in some sense even before it was Democratic; for a long time it was represented by Silvio O. Conte in the House of Representatives. It has similar farming practices to nearby Vermont (which are often concomitant with environmentalist politics) and a few small former industrial cities that have been voting for left-wing economics for a while. There is also, yes, the phenomenon of Northampton, which is one of the most heavily lesbian places on the planet and one of a disproportionate number of college towns for a region of Western Massachusetts's size.

The counties bordering Massachusetts that you were mentioning are also more Democratic than they used to be, though they're still in a tilt-R broader area.

Ah yes, Sil Conte. Had he not died, he probably would have become appropriations chairman. Wasn't he a republican though (and pro-life)?

Yes, but other than that he was distinctly left-leaning (in particular he was known as an environmentalist and generally science-minded legislator). Great example of the kind of left-populist, occasionally somewhat socially paternalistic politicians that New England generated for a long time.

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

Small town values? Democrats. Farm/village values? Republicans.

That's a pretty non-nuanced answer but in the states most well known for small towns, the actual townies are fairly moderate to liberal while the precincts full of farmers tend to be the ones voting homogeneously for Republicans.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Sort of depends on the town. There are plenty of small towns that are quite liberal. Arcata CA, New Paltz NY.

Farm/village values? Republicans.

Have you ever checked how the salad bowl of the world (Monterey county California) votes? Those people who said that we need Republican counties for the food they grow didn't look too carefully at the situation.

[asexual trans victimologist]

Sort of depends on the town. There are plenty of small towns that are quite liberal. Arcata CA, New Paltz NY.

Farm/village values? Republicans.

Have you ever checked how the salad bowl of the world (Monterey county California) votes? Those people who said that we need Republican counties for the food they grow didn't look too carefully at the situation.

Yeah, only certain types of farmers are particularly conservative (granted, pretty common and broadly understood types in the American context). It's really not an inherently conservative or Republican way of life at all. If anything it's possible to argue the inverse of TheDeadFlagBlues's answer in some areas.

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

Sort of depends on the town. There are plenty of small towns that are quite liberal. Arcata CA, New Paltz NY.

Farm/village values? Republicans.

Have you ever checked how the salad bowl of the world (Monterey county California) votes? Those people who said that we need Republican counties for the food they grow didn't look too carefully at the situation.

Yeah, only certain types of farmers are particularly conservative (granted, pretty common and broadly understood types in the American context). It's really not an inherently conservative or Republican way of life at all. If anything it's possible to argue the inverse of TheDeadFlagBlues's answer in some areas.

Organic farmers/small farmers? Sure. On the other hand finding a rancher or a farmer that owns an obscenely large piece of land and is a Democrat is quite the challenge.

I suppose that I made too large of a generalization there though, there's just too many communities across the country that invalidate that statement. I do think that townies have the tendency to be more left-wing than their rural brethren (if dependent on agriculture) though.

[Χahar]

Agricultural laborers are certainly more likely to vote Democratic.

[Senator Snowstalker]

Back when farms were mostly smaller, family establishments, the Great Plains and Mountain West was radically left-wing. Now that farms are almost always owned by large corporations (which now also own the processing and packaging plants), the "farmers" vote Republican. The farm laborers who can vote are of course heavily Democratic.

[asexual trans victimologist]

Back when farms were mostly smaller, family establishments, the Great Plains and Mountain West was radically left-wing. Now that farms are almost always owned by large corporations (which now also own the processing and packaging plants), the "farmers" vote Republican. The farm laborers who can vote are of course heavily Democratic.

Yes. There's a direct correlation between areas that are perceived as 'rural left-wing' and areas where there's still some culturally relevant population of smallholders (or enfranchised laborers in some places out West).

[nclib]

Back when farms were mostly smaller, family establishments, the Great Plains and Mountain West was radically left-wing. Now that farms are almost always owned by large corporations (which now also own the processing and packaging plants), the "farmers" vote Republican. The farm laborers who can vote are of course heavily Democratic.

Yes. There's a direct correlation between areas that are perceived as 'rural left-wing' and areas where there's still some culturally relevant population of smallholders (or enfranchised laborers in some places out West).

Also, such areas were radically left-wing before social issues came into play.

As for small-town values, it's not inherently conservative, but those who call attention to it tend to be conservative.

[muon2]

Back when farms were mostly smaller, family establishments, the Great Plains and Mountain West was radically left-wing. Now that farms are almost always owned by large corporations (which now also own the processing and packaging plants), the "farmers" vote Republican. The farm laborers who can vote are of course heavily Democratic.

Yes. There's a direct correlation between areas that are perceived as 'rural left-wing' and areas where there's still some culturally relevant population of smallholders (or enfranchised laborers in some places out West).

Also, such areas were radically left-wing before social issues came into play.

As for small-town values, it's not inherently conservative, but those who call attention to it tend to be conservative.

I don't think that's true about source of the data I showed. The authors were not making a political statement. In fact they were trying to refute some common overstatement of the red state/blue state differences. There's a lot of speculation and anecdotal evidence, but I haven't seen any other comprehensive data.

[Oldiesfreak1854]

Depends on which "small town values" you're talking about.