What are voters of the minority party generally like in your area?

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

I grew up in neighborhood that gave Clinton around 25% of the vote so I'm pretty well-suited to address what it's like to be a Democrat in an ultra-GOP community and who these Democrats tend to be.

First off, I'd say that those who are Democrats in north Idaho tend to have a tremendous persecution/martyrdom complex. They assume that if they put yard signs in their lawn in favor of a Democratic candidate that they'll be burned at the stake or have their cars vandalized. They're terrified of their neighbors' views. It wasn't this way ~10 years ago but since 2008, this is a widespread sentiment. The acrimony and toxic hate of 2016 proved that these sentiments were correct; anyone who had a Hillary sign in their yard in 2016 would have their house egged in my home town.

As for who Democrats are, that depends on the area/region in question. I grew up in Kootenai County, which doesn't have much of a Democratic tradition but, even then, Democrats tended to be old folks, pensioners who remained infatuated with people like Cecil Andrus. Outside of this demographic, were public sector employees, the poor and deviants of various kinds. The former were, without question, the Democratic base voters. Postmen, bus drivers, teachers and, to some degree, unionized electricians/construction workers, who are effectively public sector employees, are the base where I'm from. They're regular lower middle class people, who tend to mostly mirror the lifestyles of those who are around them. It's my understanding that, in most very Republican communities in flyover country, Democrats tend to be of this variety. As for the poor and deviants, they don't matter/count for the most part. They're excluded from public life and don't tend to hold deep political views. They swung massively towards Trump this year.

Presented below is a list of people I knew who were Democrats where I'm from:
-substitute teacher, union member, former engineer
-pro-bono lawyer
-small business owner who runs cleaning business; self-employed, hires a few employees
-nurse who aspires to be a pastor
-hs english teacher
-hs english teacher
-hs math teacher
-hs and ms english teacher
-hs bio teacher
-hs history teacher
-community college poli sci instructor

This list isn't scientific and it's heavily biased towards teachers because those are the adults I'd tend to interact with. That said, it's unquestionably the case that the core of the Democratic Party in any small town is going to come from, in descending order: teachers, other public sector employees (excluding cops), nurses, union people and professionals.

With this in mind, it's not a mystery that Bernie Sanders crushed Clinton across the board in the rural US, particularly in ultra-GOP counties. Democrats in these places are lower middle class, public sector employees. They vote for Democrats for economic reasons. They tend to be socially liberal but they're not BLM types or whatever. They're common people with beer guts and awful cultural tastes but who are fundamentally tolerant and, frankly, left-wing.

[100% pro-life no matter what]

I grew up in neighborhood that gave Clinton around 25% of the vote so I'm pretty well-suited to address what it's like to be a Democrat in an ultra-GOP community and who these Democrats tend to be.

First off, I'd say that those who are Democrats in north Idaho tend to have a tremendous persecution/martyrdom complex. They assume that if they put yard signs in their lawn in favor of a Democratic candidate that they'll be burned at the stake or have their cars vandalized. They're terrified of their neighbors' views. It wasn't this way ~10 years ago but since 2008, this is a widespread sentiment. The acrimony and toxic hate of 2016 proved that these sentiments were correct; anyone who had a Hillary sign in their yard in 2016 would have their house egged in my home town.

As for who Democrats are, that depends on the area/region in question. I grew up in Kootenai County, which doesn't have much of a Democratic tradition but, even then, Democrats tended to be old folks, pensioners who remained infatuated with people like Cecil Andrus. Outside of this demographic, were public sector employees, the poor and deviants of various kinds. The former were, without question, the Democratic base voters. Postmen, bus drivers, teachers and, to some degree, unionized electricians/construction workers, who are effectively public sector employees, are the base where I'm from. They're regular lower middle class people, who tend to mostly mirror the lifestyles of those who are around them. It's my understanding that, in most very Republican communities in flyover country, Democrats tend to be of this variety. As for the poor and deviants, they don't matter/count for the most part. They're excluded from public life and don't tend to hold deep political views. They swung massively towards Trump this year.

Presented below is a list of people I knew who were Democrats where I'm from:
-substitute teacher, union member, former engineer
-pro-bono lawyer
-small business owner who runs cleaning business; self-employed, hires a few employees
-nurse who aspires to be a pastor
-hs english teacher
-hs english teacher
-hs math teacher
-hs and ms english teacher
-hs bio teacher
-hs history teacher
-community college poli sci instructor

This list isn't scientific and it's heavily biased towards teachers because those are the adults I'd tend to interact with. That said, it's unquestionably the case that the core of the Democratic Party in any small town is going to come from, in descending order: teachers, other public sector employees (excluding cops), nurses, union people and professionals.

With this in mind, it's not a mystery that Bernie Sanders crushed Clinton across the board in the rural US, particularly in ultra-GOP counties. Democrats in these places are lower middle class, public sector employees. They vote for Democrats for economic reasons. They tend to be socially liberal but they're not BLM types or whatever. They're common people with beer guts and awful cultural tastes but who are fundamentally tolerant and, frankly, left-wing.

Define awful cultural tastes, because we probably have very different definitions of that.  And, how do you explain most of the South (including very white counties in the South) going for Clinton in the Democratic primary?

[publicunofficial]

It's tough to call either party in Clallam County the "minority party". It's a very competitive area where both parties have a high floor. Trump won a plurality in 2016, Obama won the two elections before that, and Bush carried it both times as well.


Republicans - Small business owner types, gun owners, loggers, upper class retirees, Paulists, farmers, Christians

Democrats - Outdoorsy environmentalists, Hispanics, Native Americans, retired Californians, stevedores, hipsters, Blue Dog types

[Mr. Smith]

Depends which side, but since the area voted like 75% Clinton, you won't see many at all.


The more coastal, the more affluent and anti-tax...Meg Whitman is a perfect example of an inner Bay Area/Coastal Republican. Won't see any yard signs, they know better than to share those views.

The further inland, the more angry farmers [especially in the ranch areas], cowboys, pro gun types appear. You'll see a few Trump signs here and there in this area. People here are a bit more open to being honest about right-wing views.

But pretty much everyone's gonna be white.

[Thunderbird is the word]

I also grew up in Connecticut, Fairfield County to be exact. The town I grew up in, Norwalk was a working class town and I think the GOP there tended to be very Italian. One town over, Westport was very well-off and tended to lean Democratic. I think the Republicans tended to be well-off socially liberal types that worked in New York and were probably most likely to support Kasich and McCain in past primaries. Funny how in some instances what people describe the political minority isn't culturally that different from those in the majority like the Democrats in Idaho or in my case the Republicans in Connecticut. In other cases more so, I think the Republicans in Brooklyn tend to be far more religious and socially conservative then the Democratic majority.

[publicunofficial]

Thinking about starting a different thread where people go out and photograph the local Dem and GOP offices in their area. It could be a somewhat good indicator of what local politics is like.

I'll see if I can get some pics of my local offices tomorrow. The Dem office has cardboard cutouts of the Obamas and Bernie Sanders, as well as a bunch of anti-TPP signs. The GOP office always has the blinds closed and has a bunch of Trump signs/pictures.

[muon2]

My precinct was about 60% HRC and about 57% Dem in downballot races last fall, so I count as one of the minority party in my area.