Newton County, Arkansas

[Anzeigenhauptmeister]

I've noticed a strange voting behavior; it seems like Newton County, Arkansas, loves to strive against the stream:

• In the 2016 Democratic primary, it was one of only two counties that chose Bernie over Hillary.
• In 1996 it was one of only a few counties that refused to vote for their favorite son.
• In this year's gubernatorial Republican primary it was one of only five counties that chose Jan Morgan over Governor Asa Hutchinson.
• In this year's gubernatorial Democratic primary, it was one of only six counties that voted for losing candidate Leticia Sanders.
• It was Mike Hathorn's best country in the 2006 lieutenant gubernatorial Democratic primary, even though he only came third statewide.
• Sandy McMath almost won that county in the 1996 senatorial Democratic Primary, and it was moreover her best, even though she only came fourth statewide.
• In the 1994 Secretary of State Democratic Runoff it voted for the losing candidate Bill McCuen in a landslide, whereas its adjacent counties voted for Sharon Priest.
• And the strangest thing of all: Their Democrats seem to love Blanche Lincoln. Plus, they voted for Obama in 2012, which is pretty amazing.

I could continue that list, but I think you got the gist.
Why have the Newton County inhabitants been bucking the trend for such a long time? Do they go to the booths thinking: "Uh! Who will loose the election? I'm so going to vote for them!"
What kind of people live there?

[RI]

Newton County, and its neighbor Searcy County, were Republican enclaves in Arkansas  for decades during the time of the Solid South stemming from Unionist loyalties during the Civil War. Both are isolated counties within the Boston Mountains, whose rugged terrain didn't allow slavery to flourish. They've always been a bit disconnected from the rest of the state.

[Anzeigenhauptmeister]

Newton County, and its neighbor Searcy County, were Republican enclaves in Arkansas  for decades during the time of the Solid South stemming from Unionist loyalties during the Civil War. Both are isolated counties within the Boston Mountains, whose rugged terrain didn't allow slavery to flourish. They've always been a bit disconnected from the rest of the state.

The people living in the Ozarks seem to be strange anyway.

[Adam Griffin]

Yeah, mountainous and geographically isolated counties in otherwise non-mountainous states have many electoral eccentricities to them. You can look up and down Appalachia and find all sorts of comparably weird phenomenon. What RI said about union/Civil War-era loyalties is often a common denominator in these areas; of course, in many cases, the pro-Union/lack of pro-Confederate sentiments in these places tie to the geographic isolation and mountainous nature of these places at the time, and what they meant for the economic situations of those who lived there.

When you're cut off from a broader culture, you tend not to be as sympathetic to it - and you also tend to develop your own (along social and political lines). Even in cases where these places take on the broader regional preferences over time, they often lag the current trends in terms of change (this is why some of the most isolated, rural and most conservative parts of the Deep South continue to have some of the strongest rural local Democratic dominance to this day; as if time has stood still).

[DINGO Joe]

Cool map

My grandparents actually retired in the 80s on a lake in the county just north of Newton and he liked to take us on drives on the back roads.  They could make WV seem cosmopolitan by comparison (though I guess on my travels through WV I was really on the "main" roads).  There was once an amusement park called Dogpatch USA in Newton, it would take too long to explain why. 

[Indy Texas]

Cool map

My grandparents actually retired in the 80s on a lake in the county just north of Newton and he liked to take us on drives on the back roads.  They could make WV seem cosmopolitan by comparison (though I guess on my travels through WV I was really on the "main" roads).  There was once an amusement park called Dogpatch USA in Newton, it would take too long to explain why. 

It was a reference to the Lil' Abner cartoons that were popular in the mid-20th century.

And, after serving as governor, Orval Faubus was the park's manager for a time.

[DINGO Joe]

Cool map

My grandparents actually retired in the 80s on a lake in the county just north of Newton and he liked to take us on drives on the back roads.  They could make WV seem cosmopolitan by comparison (though I guess on my travels through WV I was really on the "main" roads).  There was once an amusement park called Dogpatch USA in Newton, it would take too long to explain why. 

It was a reference to the Lil' Abner cartoons that were popular in the mid-20th century.

And, after serving as governor, Orval Faubus was the park's manager for a time.

Correct, but then Al Capp retired the cartoon strip, hillbilly TV shows had long been cancelled, and the park brought in things like Spiderman and Batman to stay "current" before shutting down.  The park was basically abandoned  and has a checkered history at that too.  Kalwejt would like it as it's a perfect place for his photography.

[jimrtex]

I've noticed a strange voting behavior; it seems like Newton County, Arkansas, loves to strive against the stream:

• In the 2016 Democratic primary, it was one of only two counties that chose Bernie over Hillary.
• In 1996 it was one of only a few counties that refused to vote for their favorite son.
• In this year's gubernatorial Republican primary it was one of only five counties that chose Jan Morgan over Governor Asa Hutchinson.
• In this year's gubernatorial Democratic primary, it was one of only six counties that voted for losing candidate Leticia Sanders.

I could continue that list, but I think you got the gist.
Why have the Newton County inhabitants been bucking the trend for such a long time? Do they go to the booths thinking: "Uh! Who will loose the election? I'm so going to vote for them!"
What kind of people live there?

Sanders won the Democratic primary 20:19. 5 of the 19 precincts in the county were tied, four of them 0:0, one of them 1:1. Amazingly there appears to be geographical trends with Sanders piling up 1:0 victories in the western part of the county, and Henderson 1:0 margins in the east. Henderson did win the urban vote in Jackson Township which includes the county seat of Jasper, winning 5:4.

Morgan won the Republican primary 1175:1114. I have it 98.3% of voters voted in the Republican primary.