Midwestern FReepers: What's with the geographic pattern of Democratic states that follow the Mississippi River down from Minnesota?
counties, not state. My bad.
Don't know about further up north, but St. Louis, Memphis, and the Mississippi Delta have large black populations.
Unfortunately, the blacks still seem to vote for the Dems (except for the new conservative blacks, who are in the minority still).
"What's with the geographic pattern of Democratic states that follow the Mississippi River down from Minnesota?"
Connection to water implies more exposure to other cultures and presumably more "openness' or liberalism in a more classic context.
Generally, from Missouri South, that's Delta which equals high concentrations of Blacks.
In fact, anywhere in the Old Confederacy except South Florida and South Texas, if you see blue, you see blacks (not a racist statement, just reality. I'll wager that with very few exception, every one of thse Blue counties is at least 40-50% black