what are some of the traditional political divides within states

[freepcrusher]

Wisconsin has somewhat of an east-west divide within the state (perhaps a German/Scandinavian thing)

Ohio has the 7 formation with the counties on Lake Erie and bordering PA or WV being industrial and democrat while the rest of the state republican (save for maybe Dayton)

Pennsylvania has the T formation (although western Pennsylvania isn't nearly as dem as it used to be)

NC and VA also have somewhat of an east-west divide with a heavily black and democrat tidewater area and a more republican mountainous western area

New Mexico sort of has a reverse L within the state that votes differently from the rest of the state. In the 20s, that area was democrat while the rest of the state was republican, now its the inverse

Colorado has the C formation ranging from the traditionally spanish populations in the south to the trendy ski/mountain towns and Denver.

Oklahoma also used to have somewhat of a north-south divide although that ended circa 2000

[freepcrusher]

most of North Georgia back in the day was a democratic stronghold but you're correct in that there were pockets of republican strength, particularly near the TN border: https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/index.html. East Tennessee of course has always been Republican. I would guess the reason for north Georgia being so republican is that there aren't a lot of blacks to keep the margin down, similar to a place like AL 4. I would wager that the whites in areas like GA 9 are at least marginally more democrat voting than the ones in GA 2.

[freepcrusher]

Florida's I-4 corridor divides Florida between the (excluding Orlando & Tallahassee) Republican-voting North Florida region and the (excluding the rural central bit and most of the Gulf Coast besides Tampa Bay) Democratic-voting South Florida.

that's not entirely true. South Florida outside of the tri-county area is a GOP stronghold (like Fort Myers or Naples.

[freepcrusher]

Here's a cool map of metro Atlanta in 2008




In terms of areas outside ATL that are white and liberal, you'll really only find that in areas of Dekalb county like Decatur and a few scattered areas of North Fulton where a lot of wealthy northeastern transplants have put down roots.

yep that area has probably the largest concentration of jews in the south (except for the tri county area).

[freepcrusher]

Here's a cool map of metro Atlanta in 2008



As you can see, there's a core base of democratic support in the city of Atlanta and the inner southern suburbs. This is where there's a ton of black voters and hipster liberals. Then it gets interesting as that blue sort of fans out in all directions from the city along the interstates- this is also where a lot of minority voters live. Then, as you get farther out into the outer suburbs it becomes almost blood red. These areas are white and conservative, and people there only go into the city for Braves games and concerts. And god forbid MARTA tries to expand into their communities.

In terms of areas outside ATL that are white and liberal, you'll really only find that in areas of Dekalb county like Decatur and a few scattered areas of North Fulton where a lot of wealthy northeastern transplants have put down roots.

For the most part, there aren't really any swingy regions in the metro area. The Democratic regions are super, super democrat, and the Republican regions are almost maniacally loyal to the GOP.

as is tradition (in the South).

There aren't many swing voters in the deep south because of racially polarized voting. It exists in GA and it's even worse in Alabama and Mississippi. Black voters feel a strong allegiance to the Democratic party, which is true in the rest of the US. But down here, the white voters also feel a strong allegiance the the Republican party. It transcends class, income, gender and even ideology sometimes. You may hear plenty of white people down here expressing doubts about Mitt Romney, but I can almost guarantee that they will vote for him in November, simply because he's the GOP nominee.

Among a lot of whites, I think that still, even in this day and age, there is the perception that a stealth race war being fought, and with rising black population and prominence, a lot of white people are freaked out. The GOP tapped into this fear years ago and now they have a lock on this vote.

And just an FYI, I am white and was born and raised in Georgia, so I hear these sentiments a lot from white people that they might not say among mixed company.

the reason why Georgia whites are 3/4 republican has more to do with the type of white that is living there. Within the white community there are fewer gays, catholics, jews, seculars, singles etc who would be willing vote democratic and disproportionately straight protestant married people.