Upper Midwest vs Lower Midwest

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What are some of the major cultural, political, and social differences between the Upper Midwest and the Lower Midwest?

when you say southern midwest, do you only mean missouri and kentucky?

I was thinking the same thing. When I was in high school, the midwest was Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Missouri. Now it has all kinds of other states in the mix because some states were ashamed to be plain states.

Politically, the Upper Midwest is more liberal, the Lower Midwest is more conservative.

Blue States: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan

Red States: Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakotas

Swing States: Missouri, Indiana, Ohio

well its not that bad to be a plain state, some enjoy very low unemployment numbers, have many cities ranked in many top10 best places to live, and their brain-drain isn't bloated over-taxed and unlivable states like Illinois, California, and New York, but rather, Texas, Utah, and North Dakota.

Here are two stories by Aaron M Renn, founder of the amazing blog Urbanophile.

Midwest Success Stories
http://www.newgeography.com/content/001 ... ss-stories

The successful, the stable, and the struggling Midwest Cities:
http://www.newgeography.com/content/008 ... est-cities

But yes, it should be split between the rust-belt / great-lake states and the plain states.

I guess I'm from the swing states lol. We're liberal but conservative. We need sporks but also like our handy shovels. It is one of those states where despite the number of self acclaimed Christians, there is less church going and more New Age seeking and then those of us who are a bit on the fringe for lacking a belief. For myself, I've lost hope with politics. I still vote but only for the lesser of evil. Still it's of little use given how our government is now being bombarded with corporate interests. USA is losing democracy imo if you count the average folk as the majority who gets a say.

Im not really a believer in the lower midwest. Once you are in southern Ohio, you are in the south as far as I'm concerned. lol. Unless you are a plains state and I'd probably put more of them in the south than they'd prefer.

lol that's how I feel when I visit my relatives in southern Illinois.

Wisconsin is a pretty interesting state politically as I've posted before. Most people know about the progressive and socialist movements that were so influential in the state but this is also the birthplace the Republican party(granted it bares little resemblance to the original party), Joseph McCarthy, welfare reform, and most people are familiar with our current governor. It's a very much a battle ground state even tho it hasn't gone red in a presidential race since Reagan. The possible recall and the senate race(likely a GOP icon in the state and moderate Tommy Thompson versus progressive Tammy Baldwin who will be trying to become the first openly gay senator in US history) will both garner a lot of national attention. That's on top of the presidential election, it will be nearly unbearable. I think more money will be poured in this state than any other state in the country this cycle.

I've actually recently moved and am in a swing district so I have even more races to think about.

I've always considered Kentucky a Southern state, not a Midwestern one. A lot of people also list Oklahoma as part of the Midwest, but I consider it part of the South.

To me "The Midwest" = Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio. Missouri and Kentucky are hard to place as they're bordering on both Midwest and South as far as culture goes, as are extreme southern Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. The Mid-Mississippi and Ohio Valley is really it's own region, part Midwest part South.

I don't think the major separation is between the upper and lower Midwest. Minnesota and Wisconsin are somewhat distinct from the big cities around the Great Lakes. Also, West Michigan is very different from the rest of the state, it being a major bastion of conservatism. If you remove the UAW blue-collar Democrat influence, Michigan really isn't as blue as people think.

I have to admit that, even though I've never been to the Upper Midwestern United States, I've always thought the region had a Manitoba-esqe quality to it - being full of, on surface at least, "nice" people, having a pretty sharp urban-rural split and being the home of the "mid-sized city" (Manitoba has one - Winnipeg - which contains 55% of the Province's population), and being a sort of watershed of a populist, pro-union, progressivism clashing with a rural/suburban religious conservatism.

Nebraska is dead center. Omaha is mostly conservative from my encounters. A very large catholic contingency here. Lincoln is more liberal and laid back since its a college town.

And Winnipeg was the first major city in the world to elect an openly gay mayor.