Most progressive working class areas (outside New England)

[King of Kensington]

What areas of the US outside of New England with a strong industrial/union presence or history are the most politically progressive, where right-wing populism hasn't taken hold as much.  Would it be the Iron Range of northern Minnesota?

[Miles]

Toledo, maybe? The Democrats there see more socially moderate.

[King of Kensington]

To clarify, I'm thinking more economic progressivism than social liberalism such as abortion and gay rights, but obviously they're related, as if there's less social conservatism they're less likely to have trended or shifted Republican.   Then again, there is a history of "left-labor social conservatism" such as Marcy Kaptur of Ohio.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Maybe the "driftless" area near the Wisconsin/Iowa border?

[Miles]

To clarify, I'm thinking more economic progressivism than social liberalism such as abortion and gay rights, but obviously they're related, as if there's less social conservatism they're less likely to have trended or shifted Republican.   Then again, there is a history of "left-labor social conservatism" such as Marcy Kaptur of Ohio.

Lucas County has trended D in every Presidential election since 1996.

[King of Kensington]

Didn't Kucinich represent the mostly "white ethnic" west side of Cleveland and adjacent suburbs?

[King of Kensington]

Lucas County has trended D in every Presidential election since 1996.

According to Wikipedia:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[Miles]

Lucas County has trended D in every Presidential election since 1996.

According to Wikipedia:

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Voting Democratic and trending Democratic aren't the same thing.

[King of Kensington]

Not sure about your point.  I'm agreeing that Toledo/Lucas County is a contender for one of the most progressive working class areas in the US.

[Miles]

^ Because I wasn't sure about your point

Of course, Lucas County is/was much more Democratic than the other counties around it. Thats why I said it in the first place.

[King of Kensington]

What I find most interesting is that it voted for McGovern in 1972.

[Hash]

The obvious answer here is pretty certainly Butte-Anaconda, Montana (Deer Lodge and Silver Bow counties), which is an old copper mining region with a solid history of progressive politics and union activity (and a pretty fascinating social and political history all around). Excluding Silver Bow County going R in 1956, both counties have voted for Democratic presidential candidates in every election since 1928; the erosion has been very limited compared to similar areas in the Mountain West.

[King of Kensington]

Sounds like the interior of British Columbia in a lot of ways.

[Sol]

Butte is probably alot more environmentally oriented than other former mining areas, for obvious reasons.

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

Detroit is the obvious answer.

[TJ in Oregon]

Toledo is oldschool labor Democrats, not really progressives. If you define it completely in economic terms, I suppose Toledo is fairly leftwing, but you're still not going to find many socialists or OWS types there. By vote percentage, sure, it's pretty far left, but I have trouble imagining it being the most progressive working class area in the entire country. Heck, I'd go with Cleveland or Youngstown in that department from just Ohio.

Didn't Kucinich represent the mostly "white ethnic" west side of Cleveland and adjacent suburbs?

Kucinich did, but his old district is only 59% Obama from 2008 and not really that progressive. Kucinich always had a different political base in Cleveland than he did nationally. At home he was an ethnic candidate who people supported for a large number of historical reasons and a belief he was representing the "forgotten peoples" (ie. Poles, Czechs, Ukrainians, Croatians, etc.).

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Toledo is oldschool labor Democrats, not really progressives. If you define it completely in economic terms, I suppose Toledo is fairly leftwing, but you're still not going to find many socialists or OWS types there.

Occupy is popular in Toledo, since Occupy is a working-class movement.