The Dutch

[ElectionsGuy]

I realized sometime today while searching up ethnicities by county that the dutch are clearly more conservative than their surroundings and stick out very obviously. Allegan, Kent, and Ottawa counties in Michigan are plurality dutch, and the areas in those counties that are very dutch also stick out:



There are many precincts in eastern Ottawa, northern Allegan, and southwestern Kent that vote >70% R and sometimes into the 80's. Also, Missaukee county in northern Michigan has always stood as as being more republican than its neighbors, and it too, happens to be majority dutch:



Specifically the three dark red (or orange) precincts in the south of the county all go >70% McCain. I also wonder if the rural area next to Saginaw that is unnaturally republican is also dutch



In Iowa, northwestern Iowa has always been an oddball for me to figure out, Bush wouldn't have won Iowa in 2004 if it weren't for Sioux County. Although there's 3 or 4 counties that are very conservative, only the most conservative one, Sioux, is plurality dutch, according to that map.



Although that area around is more conservative in general, I would think the Dutch ethnicity really does make a huge difference. One more example is two counties in central Iowa that are plurality dutch, and the parts that are dutch are pretty clearly spotted (specifically in Marion county)



There's other areas you can find where there's just overwhelming republican precincts out of nowhere, but is this because of a republican tradition, or because of a conservative culture? Or something else?

[ElectionsGuy]

Here's the map I was talking about (its 14 years old, but is probably still somewhat accurate:



Also, on the counties I just talked about, most of them have the "Reformed" christian church. Interesting

[bgwah]

Aww. I miss the days when I got to "discover" things like this.

To answer your question, the cause is primarily religious. They're mostly Dutch Reformed types.

Even Washington has a Dutch enclave in Lynden. Here's the gay marriage map for Whatcom County, courtesy of Alcon. You can probably figure out where it is.

[Sol]

Yep. Dutch Reformed Church and all that.

[Indy Texas]

Here's the map I was talking about (its 14 years old, but is probably still somewhat accurate:



Also, on the counties I just talked about, most of them have the "Reformed" christian church. Interesting

I see these maps in a lot of places, but is there ever going to be an updated version based on the 2010 Census?

And what percentage of self-identified Dutch-Americans are (still) Dutch Reformed?

[Hatman 🍁]

Aww. I miss the days when I got to "discover" things like this.

To answer your question, the cause is primarily religious. They're mostly Dutch Reformed types.

Even Washington has a Dutch enclave in Lynden. Here's the gay marriage map for Whatcom County, courtesy of Alcon. You can probably figure out where it is.

Just across the border from Lynden is BC's bible belt. Not sure how Dutch the area is though.

[Gass3268]

I see these maps in a lot of places, but is there ever going to be an updated version based on the 2010 Census?

And what percentage of self-identified Dutch-Americans are (still) Dutch Reformed?

[muon2]

Here's the map I was talking about (its 14 years old, but is probably still somewhat accurate:



Also, on the counties I just talked about, most of them have the "Reformed" christian church. Interesting

I see these maps in a lot of places, but is there ever going to be an updated version based on the 2010 Census?

And what percentage of self-identified Dutch-Americans are (still) Dutch Reformed?

In 2000 the largest ancestry was a question on the long form of the census. Now there is only a short form and questions like ancestry are part of the American Community Survey (ACS) which comes out regularly with 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year totals. A third party would need to put together a map based on the county-by-county tables from the ACS.

The Census does not ask questions about religion, but that data is collected by the Association of Religious Data Archives (ARDA). They have 2010 data in map form, but it's only by state. There is county data in the GIS mapping tool for 2009. In either case there is no map that shows the largest denomination like the 2000 data does. One could construct it from the tables on their site.

[Hash]

Just across the border from Lynden is BC's bible belt. Not sure how Dutch the area is though.

Abbotsford (the federal constituency) is 11.2% Dutch as per the NHS, compared to 4.7% for BC and 3.2% in Canada. 'Other Christian' is 27.4% against 9.2% in Canada.

[TJ in Oregon]

Specifically the three dark red (or orange) precincts in the south of the county all go >70% McCain. I also wonder if the rural area next to Saginaw that is unnaturally republican is also dutch

The Republican patch near Saginaw isn't Dutch, it was settled by very conservative Lutheran Bavarians. But yes, it sure does stick out.

Also, there's another Dutch patch in Wisconsin just south of Sheboygan around a village named Oostburg. It doesn't stick out much on the maps since most of the areas around it are already >65% R anyway. But a careful analysis by precinct does show it to be more Republican than the rest of southern Sheboygan County.

[publicunofficial]

Aww. I miss the days when I got to "discover" things like this.

To answer your question, the cause is primarily religious. They're mostly Dutch Reformed types.

Even Washington has a Dutch enclave in Lynden. Here's the gay marriage map for Whatcom County, courtesy of Alcon. You can probably figure out where it is.

IIRC, Bellingham (The green city in the south) is one of the least religious cities in America, while Lynden (red area in the north) is one of the most.

[Hatman 🍁]

Just across the border from Lynden is BC's bible belt. Not sure how Dutch the area is though.

Abbotsford (the federal constituency) is 11.2% Dutch as per the NHS, compared to 4.7% for BC and 3.2% in Canada. 'Other Christian' is 27.4% against 9.2% in Canada.

Ahh, according to this article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Canadian_census_areas_demographic_extremes Abbotsford is indeed the most Dutch place in Canada! Interesting how they settled on both sides of the border.

[Oldiesfreak1854]

I'm from that rural area around Saginaw, and it is made up of predominantly German Lutherans that are very religious and conservative, not to mention rather wealthy.  But not many Dutch that I know of (although I did have a classmate with the name Van Sickle.)

As for Dutch Americans, I suspect it has to do with the Dutch reputation for being very fiscally conservative; most of them are very socially conservative as well, which makes much more of a difference when most people vote.

The Republican patch near Saginaw isn't Dutch, it was settled by very conservative Lutheran Bavarians. But yes, it sure does stick out.

You've nailed it.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

The Census does not ask questions about religion, but that data is collected by the Association of Religious Data Archives (ARDA). They have 2010 data in map form, but it's only by state. There is county data in the GIS mapping tool for 2009. In either case there is no map that shows the largest denomination like the 2000 data does. One could construct it from the tables on their site.

You mean like this map already posted in this thread?

I see these maps in a lot of places, but is there ever going to be an updated version based on the 2010 Census?

I do get a kick out of Newberry County be a lone spot of Lutheran strength in the South.  That's due of course to the area being settled mainly by Germans during the Colonial era.  Lexington County north of the fall line was also settled mainly by Germans, but it's had a lot more in-migration since then than Newberry, tho you still see the German influence in the last names of a lot of the influential people with roots in the community.

[ElectionsGuy]

Here's another map.



Interestingly the two >20% Dutch counties in the southwest corner of Minnesota were the only counties to vote against Klobuchar.

[Tieteobserver]

Still couldn't see how the Dutch could stick out against any other White ethnicity.

Even the clear differences between Ethnic Whites and WASPs started blurring by the mid-1950s and largely faded by the end of the 1970s...

Ok: Jews are clearly more liberal than goyim Whites.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Still couldn't see how the Dutch could stick out against any other White ethnicity.

Church.  It's sorta like how the Germans in South Carolina stick out because of their Lutheranism.  It's been said that 11am Sunday morning is the most segregated hour in the United States, and that's not just true for Black/white segregation but also for segregation between White ethnic groups.

[muon2]

The Census does not ask questions about religion, but that data is collected by the Association of Religious Data Archives (ARDA). They have 2010 data in map form, but it's only by state. There is county data in the GIS mapping tool for 2009. In either case there is no map that shows the largest denomination like the 2000 data does. One could construct it from the tables on their site.

You mean like this map already posted in this thread?

I see these maps in a lot of places, but is there ever going to be an updated version based on the 2010 Census?

I do get a kick out of Newberry County be a lone spot of Lutheran strength in the South.  That's due of course to the area being settled mainly by Germans during the Colonial era.  Lexington County north of the fall line was also settled mainly by Germans, but it's had a lot more in-migration since then than Newberry, tho you still see the German influence in the last names of a lot of the influential people with roots in the community.

That's what happens when I post without looking at what shows up while I'm typing.

Anyway, it's a nice find since I hadn't been able to locate one on the ARDA website.