Why did Ted Cruz do so well in Lancaster County, PA?

[HAnnA MArin County]

I'm guessing Amish, but surely they didn't turn out in that big of numbers to vote for him, if they can even vote?

[ElectionsGuy]

This was one of the few counties I was counting on him winning. Amish presence and it has deep Republican roots, making it much more likely to be more anti-Trump.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

It seems like a solid Cruz area even for the non-Amish.  He probably would have won it if everything didn't break perfectly for Trump over the previous 2 weeks.

[Darthpi – Anti-Florida Activist]

Lancaster County is the most Republican county in the state that isn't culturally part of Appalachia. You could teleport Lancaster County to the rural Midwest and it would fit right in.

[Ebowed]

Amish don't vote.

[Badger]

Amish don't vote.

They do to a degree in Ohio. The 04 Bush campaign made a concerted effort to register and GOTV Amish in places like Wayne and Holmes Counties.

Kind of surprising the devoutly pacifist Amish would support Bush, but I remember one Amish man quoted in a USA Today article about the registration campaign basically saying: "Well, yes, the war in Iraq is a tragedy and our faith opposes involvement in such conflicts always. But abortion and homosexuality are ABOMINATIONS BEFORE THE LORD!!!!"

[Ebowed]

Amish don't vote.

They do to a degree in Ohio. The 04 Bush campaign made a concerted effort to register and GOTV Amish in places like Wayne and Holmes Counties.

Interesting, didn't know that!  I wonder how successful the registration drives were.

Perhaps central to this discussion is why Amish don't, generally, vote.  Is it a specific religious prohibition i.e. Jehovah's Witnesses or is it simply part of a tendency to avoid societal integration?

[DINGO Joe]

Lancaster is actually a very populated county and the Amish make up less than 10% of the population.  There are other Anabaptists that live there are more engaged in the world (and vote), primarily the Mennonites.  It actually has moderated some as it's become more populous and diverse.

[Wisconsin+17]

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Amish are exempted from the duties of citizenship (ie, military service), and so tend to not vote as a consequence of choosing to be a conscientious objector.

[Darthpi – Anti-Florida Activist]

Lancaster is actually a very populated county and the Amish make up less than 10% of the population.  There are other Anabaptists that live there are more engaged in the world (and vote), primarily the Mennonites.  It actually has moderated some as it's become more populous and diverse.

I can vouch all of this. I have relatives from Lancaster, and the Mennonite community is definitely more integrated into society than the Amish.

[Thunderbird is the word]

The rural part of the county is very conservative, only Lancaster proper which is a college town is more liberal, and yeah it's a very Republican county historically.

[HAnnA MArin County]

I didn't think the Amish voted, but I remember seeing one thread on here where some posters were saying that they DID vote, so I was just hoping for some clarification.

We have a good-sized Amish presence in Missouri, but none in my quadrant of the state. I think the biggest communities are in Southwest Missouri near Seymour (Webster County, east of Springfield) and Jamestown (Northwest Missouri, north of Kansas City). There is a Mennonite community not too far from my home town, though, in a little hamlet called Aquilla. I've seen them out and about in the local grocery store, and get this: I actually went to Rolla (Phelps County) about a month ago to play in a volleyball tournament and I saw Amish/Mennonite women playing! They were playing in their skirts and had the little cloth caps on their heads. Surprisingly, they were actually kind of good.

[Adam Griffin]

Exactly how big is the "Amish community" in this substantially-surbanized county? There are a half-million people living here and half of the county's land is zoned for agriculture. Unless it's some sort of Amish Mecca that draws them in from all over the country, I have a hard time seeing how this group is any sizable share of the population - let alone the voting bloc, as others have already covered.

Also, the correct answer to this question is "Comrade Snowstalker".

[Young Conservative]

Exactly how big is the "Amish community" in this substantially-surbanized county? There are a half-million people living here and half of the county's land is zoned for agriculture. Unless it's some sort of Amish Mecca that draws them in from all over the country, I have a hard time seeing how this group is any sizable share of the population - let alone the voting bloc, as others have already covered.

Also, the correct answer to this question is "Comrade Snowstalker".

It is estimated that 30,000 or 5.7 % of the population is amish according to the census

[IceSpear]

Exactly how big is the "Amish community" in this substantially-surbanized county? There are a half-million people living here and half of the county's land is zoned for agriculture. Unless it's some sort of Amish Mecca that draws them in from all over the country, I have a hard time seeing how this group is any sizable share of the population - let alone the voting bloc, as others have already covered.

Also, the correct answer to this question is "Comrade Snowstalker".

It has the second biggest Amish population of any county in the US.

I remember going there a lot as a kid for field trips in elementary school. We got to ride in the horse and buggies and help them churn butter and stuff. It was interesting.