Why is Indiana so damned Republican?

[jerusalemcar5]

The rural areas are definitely the reason.  More than 70% of Indiana's counties have less than 50,000 people (Group A), and more than 80% have less than 100,000 (Group B).  Group A counties make up 30% of Indiana's population and Group B makes up an astounding 41% of Indiana's population.  Given the fact the rural voters come out in higher numbers than urban voters, it becomes clearer why the state has such strong Republican trends.

[skybridge]

Ask David Curtiss Stephenson...

[Nym90]

They're too conservative to have daylight savings time.

That's one thing they're doing right.

It makes sense in Arizona--but Indiana?

DST doesn't make sense anywhere if you ask me...

I like it. I think it makes sense from an energy conservation standpoint to have more sunlight in the evening when people are more likely to be awake than in the early morning when they are more likely to be asleep.

[ilikeverin]

They're too conservative to have daylight savings time.

That's one thing they're doing right.

It makes sense in Arizona--but Indiana?

DST doesn't make sense anywhere if you ask me...

I like it. I think it makes sense from an energy conservation standpoint to have more sunlight in the evening when people are more likely to be awake than in the early morning when they are more likely to be asleep.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_savings_time#Criticism_of_DST

[MasterJedi]

They're so damned Republican because they're so damned smart!

[Jacobtm]

The rural areas are definitely the reason.  More than 70% of Indiana's counties have less than 50,000 people (Group A), and more than 80% have less than 100,000 (Group B).  Group A counties make up 30% of Indiana's population and Group B makes up an astounding 41% of Indiana's population.  Given the fact the rural voters come out in higher numbers than urban voters, it becomes clearer why the state has such strong Republican trends.

That makes sense in current terms, but why were they so strongly Republican back when Republicans were seen as the party of elitist north-eastern Business interests and Democrats were seen as the rural farmer's party?

[Bleeding heart conservative, HTMLdon]

The rural areas are definitely the reason.  More than 70% of Indiana's counties have less than 50,000 people (Group A), and more than 80% have less than 100,000 (Group B).  Group A counties make up 30% of Indiana's population and Group B makes up an astounding 41% of Indiana's population.  Given the fact the rural voters come out in higher numbers than urban voters, it becomes clearer why the state has such strong Republican trends.

That makes sense in current terms, but why were they so strongly Republican back when Republicans were seen as the party of elitist north-eastern Business interests and Democrats were seen as the rural farmer's party?

That's not quite the way it was.  Yes the GOP had the business interests but also dominated virtually every rural area in the north and midwest.  The Democrats just had the rural south.

[Gustaf]

The rural areas are definitely the reason.  More than 70% of Indiana's counties have less than 50,000 people (Group A), and more than 80% have less than 100,000 (Group B).  Group A counties make up 30% of Indiana's population and Group B makes up an astounding 41% of Indiana's population.  Given the fact the rural voters come out in higher numbers than urban voters, it becomes clearer why the state has such strong Republican trends.

That makes sense in current terms, but why were they so strongly Republican back when Republicans were seen as the party of elitist north-eastern Business interests and Democrats were seen as the rural farmer's party?

That's not quite the way it was.  Yes the GOP had the business interests but also dominated virtually every rural area in the north and midwest.  The Democrats just had the rural south.

Furthermore, that's not quite how Indiana voted. It voted Democrat on several occassions during the Gilded Age.

Edit: in 1876, 1884 and 1892. That is, every time the Democrats won the election (counting 1876 as a Dem win). It was the only Midwestern state to vote Democrat during this time.

[Cubby]

I've often wondered about Indiana. In 1996 it was the only Dole State East of the Mississippi East of the Missouri River outside the South. It really stood out then as an anomaly.

The KKK was very strong in Indiana in the 1920's, pointing to a nativist/social conservative sentiment that in a peaceful form exists to this day. As was mentioned, IN's lack of urban areas plays a role in its GOP strength.

One good thing about IN in 2004 was that rapidly growing Hamilton County (200,000 people) swung/trended towards Kerry. This is a great sign.

[adam]

One word: NASCAR

[ag]

One good thing about IN in 2004 was that rapidly growing Hamilton County (200,000 people) swung/trended towards Kerry. This is a great sign.

This is not called a "swing", this is just a minor statistical variation. I 2000 it was 74%:23% Bush, in 2004 it was 74%:25% Bush. Even if you factor in all the trends you wish, this is negligible change. The fact that it is growing makes things worse for the Dems: in 2000 Bush lead was 38 thousand votes, in 2004 it was 51 thousand.  Getting 13 thousand votes (net) more out of the single county - one can live with such "trends".  At this rate, even if it continues, it will be decades before this growth will stop actually hurting Dems.

[Cubby]

One good thing about IN in 2004 was that rapidly growing Hamilton County (200,000 people) swung/trended towards Kerry. This is a great sign.

This is not called a "swing", this is just a minor statistical variation. I 2000 it was 74%:23% Bush, in 2004 it was 74%:25% Bush. Even if you factor in all the trends you wish, this is negligible change. The fact that it is growing makes things worse for the Dems: in 2000 Bush lead was 38 thousand votes, in 2004 it was 51 thousand.  Getting 13 thousand votes (net) more out of the single county - one can live with such "trends".  At this rate, even if it continues, it will be decades before this growth will stop actually hurting Dems.

But if you look at the Indiana 2004 map, Hamilton County was one of just 4 statewide in which Bush's margin of victory shrank (By about 1.50%). I'm not implying that the Dems will win Hamilton anytime soon, far from it. It was just an interesting change to see in an election that went bad for Kerry in IN.

I love the swing/trend maps so I may be reading to much into them.