This might seem a silly question but...

[Harry Hayfield]

Is there anything that can be dug up to answer the following:

"Is it true that the more people in an area relate to a part of Europe, the more Democrat they are?"

For instance, I found out today that Inyo County in California has the greatest number of people in California who claim Welsh ancestry, therefore that does mean that they would support the US version of Plaid Cymru?

[Alcon]

That's an interesting observation, and probably accurate, at least among whites.  I'd wager that those who identify "American" ancestry are overwhelmingly Republican.  Those who identify with a European ethnic group also probably tend to be union laborers at a higher clip than average, although it doesn't seem to have done Kerry any favors in Inyo County.  I also doubt this applies to German ancestry.

I'm curious where the Inyo County stat comes from.  The Census indicated only 1.5% of the population there identifying as Welsh, which is well above the national average of 0.5%, but not nearly enough to affect local politics in any way.

To my knowledge, the most Welsh county is Oneida County, Idaho, where 20.8% identify as such.  But being that only 22 people (0.6%) of the population speaks an Indo-European language, and all of them speak English "well or better" on top of that, I imagine it's a pretty Americanized set.  I doubt there's much Welsh loyalty there, other than the occasional Red Dragon.

[Ban my account ffs!]

Politics are pretty divided among ethnic groups in Minnesota.

The ethnic Norwegians, eastern Europeans, Swedes and protestant Germans tend to favor liberal/Democratic candidates while the Catholic Germans tend to be more conservative, though they will favor a Catholic Democrat.

Over time, this has become more of a regional thing than an ethnic thing in the state, simply because different ethnic groups settled in different areas of the state.  The northeastern part of hte state was settled by radical eastern Europeans, Finns, and other Scandinavians that were unionized from an early time.

Norwegians settled in the southern and western part of the state along hte Minnesota River and up through the Red River Valley. 

Catholic Germans settled in the central part of the state, and this part of the state has always been more conservative.  A small Irish Catholic community has traditionally been democratic.

But this is just one state.  And state lines do mean something.  While many counties bordering North Dakota in Minnesota might vote for the Democrat in a presidential election, the North Dakotans will likely vote Republican.  The ethnicity is the same, but things have changed over time.


Edit:  This is the 2000 senatorial election in Minnesota between DFLer Mark Dayton and Republican Rod Grams.  The county divisions do a good job of showing where the ethnic divisions are in Minnesota outside of the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area.

[Harry Hayfield]

That's an interesting observation, and probably accurate, at least among whites.  I'd wager that those who identify "American" ancestry are overwhelmingly Republican.  Those who identify with a European ethnic group also probably tend to be union laborers at a higher clip than average, although it doesn't seem to have done Kerry any favors in Inyo County.  I also doubt this applies to German ancestry.

I'm curious where the Inyo County stat comes from.  The Census indicated only 1.5% of the population there identifying as Welsh, which is well above the national average of 0.5%, but not nearly enough to affect local politics in any way.

To my knowledge, the most Welsh county is Oneida County, Idaho, where 20.8% identify as such.  But being that only 22 people (0.6%) of the population speaks an Indo-European language, and all of them speak English "well or better" on top of that, I imagine it's a pretty Americanized set.  I doubt there's much Welsh loyalty there, other than the occasional Red Dragon.

The fact that Inyo county had a lot more Welsh than normal came from a Wikipedia map. I would like to know if someone could send me the full data on which counties are more Welsh than average.

[Alcon]

The fact that Inyo county had a lot more Welsh than normal came from a Wikipedia map. I would like to know if someone could send me the full data on which counties are more Welsh than average.

As you can see, Oneida County is #1.  There are also counties in northeastern Pennsylvania with a significant Welsh population.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

To my knowledge, the most Welsh county is Oneida County, Idaho, where 20.8% identify as such.

Damn Mormons messing these statistics up.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

English is very much an Indo-European language.

Btw, English is the first language of the overwhelming majority of people in Wales. Has been since the 19th century.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

The fact that Inyo county had a lot more Welsh than normal came from a Wikipedia map. I would like to know if someone could send me the full data on which counties are more Welsh than average.

As you can see, Oneida County is #1.  There are also counties in northeastern Pennsylvania with a significant Welsh population.

Which should be expected as Scranton (and other mining towns in the general area) was the main destination for Welsh immigrants in the 19th century.

Though there are a lot of people with Welsh surnames (Jones, Davis, Roberts and so on) in areas with very little 19th century Welsh immigration.

[Alcon]

English is very much an Indo-European language.

Btw, English is the first language of the overwhelming majority of people in Wales. Has been since the 19th century.

I'm very much aware of both of those, and should have said "non-English."  But in an area like Oneida County, people are not going to identify as culturally Welsh; they identify as culturally Mormon.  And even if some did, 20.8% is not enough to have the described effect on local politics.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

But in an area like Oneida County, people are not going to identify as culturally Welsh; they identify as culturally Mormon.

But of course.

[nclib]

I'd wager that those who identify "American" ancestry are overwhelmingly Republican.

I started a thread a while back comparing the largest ancestry group in each county with the 2004 Presidential results. The overwhelming majority of counties with "American" pluralities voted for Bush in 2004.

[Verily]

My neighbors support Sinn Fein, and had SF posters up on their lawn during the 2007 Northern Ireland elections. (No, I don't secretly live in NI.) They're the crazed-Irish exception, though.

[Alcon]

Harry,

You asked for this but signed out of AIM before I could give it to you.  Here is the navigable Census map of those of Welsh ancestry by county:

http://tinyurl.com/2jqn26

How I can get a horizontal table with total population and Welsh ancestry for every U.S. county at once is beyond my capabilities on the Census web site, unfortunately.  I've so far been unable to find a site that does this.  If I do find one, I'll let you know.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

For much of the 20th Century, Massachusetts was divided down ethnic lines: the old country Yankee types were the backbone of the Republican Party, the Irish immigrants were the backbone of the Democratic Party.

One group was far better at reproducing than the other, and as such, Masschusetts went from being reliably Republican at the beginning of the century, to being closely divided mid-century, to being solidly Democratic by the end.

[J. J.]

Several of those Central PA counties are reliably Republican.

I think it is more important to look a occupation.  A lot of the Welsh were minors that came over in the early 20th Century and "fell in" with labor unions.

[??????????]

The South has many folks of the Scot/Irish/Welsh ancestry and well you see how conservative it is down here.

[jimrtex]

How I can get a horizontal table with total population and Welsh ancestry for every U.S. county at once is beyond my capabilities on the Census web site, unfortunately.  I've so far been unable to find a site that does this.  If I do find one, I'll let you know.

With American Fact Finder, when you get to Geography, select Geo within Geo.  You can then choose all Counties in US.  Ancestry is in the SF 3 data set.

[jimrtex]

English is very much an Indo-European language.

Btw, English is the first language of the overwhelming majority of people in Wales. Has been since the 19th century.

I'm very much aware of both of those, and should have said "non-English."  But in an area like Oneida County, people are not going to identify as culturally Welsh; they identify as culturally Mormon.  And even if some did, 20.8% is not enough to have the described effect on local politics.

Malad Valley Welsh Festival

Founders of the town of Samaria included James Thomas, Thomas Roberts, David Davis, and Taliesen Hughes.   An annual eisteddfod was held until WWI, alternating between the two towns of Samaria and Malad.  The Welsh Festival was began in 2004 as a revival of that earlier event.

Tiny US town's big Welsh heritage