Which state is the heart and soul of the Democratic/Republican Party?

[(Still) muted by Kalwejt until March 31]

GOP: Alabama. Just the right mix of PUMAs, Obama-->Trump voters, and Dole voters, combined with every county going for Trump in the GOP primary.

Dems: California, for obvious reasons. Massachusetts is just too White. Hawaii is too pro-Bernie.

[(Still) muted by Kalwejt until March 31]

Why is everyone choosing states either with so many registered Dems (Oklahoma; GOP registration only surpassed Dem in 2014 and it did not vote for Trump in the primary), states that did not go for Trump in the primary (Idaho, Wyoming, Kansas) and states that went for WJC or Barack Obama (Indiana, Missouri, Tennessee, West Virginia, Arkansas) as the heart and soul of the GOP? The heart and soul of the GOP should be a state that did not go Dem for at least a quarter of a century, that went for Trump in the primary, that trended Republican this year, and that has a reasonable number of WJC92-Trump and HRC08-Trump voters. Alabama fits all the check boxes.

[(Still) muted by Kalwejt until March 31]

Actually it makes it almost a complete exception to the rule of states that vote Republican.

Reiterating your post doesn't make it any less awful. Using your logic, Vermont should be a solid Republican state because RURALS.

...and no one in their right mind would call Vermont the "Heart and Soul" of the Democratic Party.

Just like no one should call Texas the "Heart and Soul" of the Republican Party.

It's not that complicated here.

Texas is socially conservative, has a very conservative suburban AND rural population, is a very religious state, has a good chunk of wealthy Whites and has a large business community.  Whether you like it or not, all of those represent a very significant faction of the GOP, pal.

Wealth isn't a good indicator of being Republican or Democratic.    Texas is more Urban than the country as a whole, and has some of the biggest cities in the country.

The only thing you really have there is the religious part, but that alone isn't enough.

Considering there was a direct correlation between higher household income and voting for Trump (and an even steeper one for Congressional Republicans), I'd say it at the very least is a soft indicator of being more Republican.

-Within each race, income was a non-factor in Trump vote. Marriage and education were infinitely more important.