Why is the panhandle so conservative?

My first college roommate was from escambia county. He used to say Alabama wouldn’t need to charge any taxes because the revenue gain if they got the panhandle would be so much. I would counter with if the panhandle left for Alabama the iqs of both states would go up by ten. He was too stupid to get that it was a huge dig at Alabama and also a dig at the panhandle.

 

It shows every four years when the media desperately try to call Florida for the Democrat when the polls close in the Eastern Time Zone in an effort to dissuade last hour voters in the panhandle.

 

I grew up in Pensacola. We always referred to it as LA for lower alabama.

 

I resemble that.

 

And the Redneck Riviera. State’s most beautiful beaches.

 

A lot of military retirees in the panhandle, as well. Pensacola navy base has been operating since 1915 or so. Pensacola - Fort Walton also has some of the nicest beaches on the Gulf Coast between Galveston and Tampa. And it's relatively affordable, so working class people can afford to live or retire in the panhandle.

 

Those are the retirees I was referring to, not every kind of retiree.

 

Why would anyone vote for a drug addict, groomer... COMMUNIST?

 

Poorly educated, lower IQ’s and low income is my reasonable estimate.

 

They are Floridians Soho, including a bunch of Gators.

 

So?

there’s even a word for the state “Floriduh”

I’ts a safe bet that the citizens of Austin feel the same way about all of Texas to the west and far north of them

 

I would think it’s more of a rural issue, especially in the south. After passage of civil rights in 1964 the south flipped from blue to red. And imo, the panhandle is more “traditional southern”, albeit their brand of southern culture, than the rest of fla.

history of southern voting…

The Year the South (First)Went Red