Update: Follow up post.
This Michael Lind piece bemoaning liberal contempt for white Southerners made me want to look a bit deeper and compare interregional differences and similarities. I went into the General Social Survey and limited responses to whites only and compared by region. The regions in the GSS are those of the US Census:
I combined New England & Mid Atlantic as the Northeast, the North Central regions as the Midwest, Mountain and Pacific as the West, and finally the other three regions as the South. Results below….
| Northeast | Midwest | South | West | |
| God | ||||
| Don’t Believe | 4.1 | 3.2 | 1.5 | 3.4 |
| No Way To Find Out | 6.7 | 5.5 | 3.8 | 6 |
| Some Higher Power | 10.8 | 11.8 | 6.3 | 14.6 |
| Believe Sometimes | 6.3 | 4.5 | 2.9 | 4.5 |
| Believe But Doubts | 22.8 | 18.9 | 14.3 | 18.3 |
| Know God Exists | 49.3 | 56 | 71.1 | 53.2 |
| Party | ||||
| Democrat | 42.2 | 37.3 | 34.6 | 41.9 |
| Independent | 21.2 | 19.4 | 18.1 | 16.6 |
| Republican | 35.6 | 43.2 | 47.3 | 41.5 |
| Ideology | ||||
| Liberal | 29.3 | 24.6 | 19.2 | 28.5 |
| Moderate | 41.7 | 39.7 | 35.7 | 35.6 |
| Conservative | 28.9 | 35.7 | 45 | 36 |
| Religion | ||||
| Protestant | 29.2 | 52.7 | 66.9 | 44.9 |
| Catholic | 45.4 | 26.9 | 17.3 | 21.3 |
| Jewish | 4.9 | 1.5 | 1.9 | 1.9 |
| No Religion | 15.6 | 15.7 | 10.5 | 23 |
| Education | ||||
| Less Than HS | 11.7 | 12.3 | 13.6 | 9.4 |
| HS | 49 | 56.9 | 53.2 | 51.2 |
| Junior College | 7.8 | 7.5 | 7.8 | 8.9 |
| Bachelor | 19.4 | 15.3 | 17.3 | 21.1 |
| Graduate | 12.2 | 8 | 8.1 | 9.4 |
| Intelligence | ||||
| Dumb (WORDSUM 0-4) | 15.3 | 15.7 | 17.4 | 11.4 |
| Average (WORDSUM 5-7) | 55 | 61.5 | 57.2 | 55.6 |
| Smart (WORDSUM 8-10) | 29.7 | 22.7 | 25.3 | 33 |
| Allow To Speak…. | ||||
| Atheist | 79.7 | 81.4 | 74.4 | 85.5 |
| Racist | 62.3 | 66.6 | 63.2 | 66.7 |
| Communist | 72.1 | 73 | 65.2 | 78.4 |
| Militarist | 70.2 | 71.2 | 65.2 | 76.2 |
| Homosexual | 89.4 | 86 | 78.8 | 88.9 |
| Protestants | ||||
| Fundamentalists | 27 | 46.6 | 59.9 | 41.7 |
| Moderate | 28.4 | 28.8 | 15.5 | 33.6 |
| Liberal | 44.7 | 24.5 | 24.6 | 24.6 |
| Bible Is…. | ||||
| Word of God | 19.4 | 27.1 | 38.1 | 24.1 |
| Inspired Word | 56.1 | 55.6 | 48.9 | 49.1 |
| Book of Fables | 22.7 | 15.9 | 11.8 | 24.4 |
| Can People Be Trusted… | ||||
| Can Trust | 40.4 | 39.6 | 34.9 | 43.1 |
| Cannot Trust | 51.9 | 56.3 | 59.9 | 51.2 |
| Depends | 7.6 | 4.1 | 5.2 | 5.7 |
| Great Deal of Confidence In…. | ||||
| Scientific Community | 46.4 | 44 | 42 | 49.3 |
| Military | 44.1 | 48.8 | 54.1 | 43.1 |
| Organized Labor | 13.7 | 12.6 | 11.3 | 12.7 |
| Organized Religion | 23.5 | 26.5 | 26.5 | 19.9 |
| Banks | 24.8 | 27.3 | 29.6 | 25.2 |
| How Do People Get Ahead | ||||
| Hard Work | 62.5 | 68.4 | 68.7 | 69.5 |
| Both Equally | 26.1 | 20.5 | 22.3 | 21 |
| Luck or Help | 11.5 | 11.1 | 9 | 9.5 |
| Taxes On Rich Are…. | ||||
| Much Too High | 12.1 | 8 | 7.5 | 8.5 |
| Too High | 16.7 | 12.4 | 19 | 14.2 |
| About Right | 21.3 | 25.9 | 28.2 | 27.3 |
| Too Low | 29 | 40 | 32.2 | 28.5 |
| Much Too Low | 21 | 13.7 | 13.1 | 11.5 |
| Approve Ban Mandatory School Prayer | 50.7 | 43 | 34.7 | 51.6 |
| Premarital Sex Always Wrong | 14.3 | 22.7 | 33.7 | 22.4 |
| Homosexual Sex Always Wrong | 40.5 | 54.8 | 65.5 | 47.6 |
| Make Porn Illegal | 32.6 | 36.7 | 44.6 | 32 |
| Strongly Favor Spanking of Children | 17.4 | 24.6 | 32.1 | 23.6 |
| Does a Person Have Right to End Life if Terminally Ill? | 70.5 | 64.8 | 57 | 69 |
| Reads Newspaper Everyday | 46.3 | 42.5 | 37.1 | 37.4 |
| Poor Americans Need to Help Themselves, No Gov. Aid | 25.8 | 29.9 | 33.8 | 30.4 |
| People Should Pay For Medical Care Themselves, No Gov. Aid | 14.3 | 18.8 | 20.5 | 17.5 |
| No Special Treatment for Blacks, No Gov. Aid | 53.1 | 56.2 | 61.4 | 55.2 |
| No One In Family Belongs To Union | 75.8 | 81.8 | 90.7 | 83.6 |
| Favor Law Against Interracial Marriage | 8.9 | 10.3 | 18 | 5.5 |
| Yes – Abortion On Demand | 49.2 | 36.7 | 33.9 | 49.4 |
| Renter | 24.8 | 24.6 | 21.8 | 31.3 |
| Favor Capital Punishment | 68.4 | 74.6 | 78.7 | 75.5 |
| Favor Gun Permit | 88.4 | 78.2 | 77.2 | 76.1 |
| Legalize Marijuana | 37.8 | 35.5 | 30.5 | 41.4 |
| Attended Religious Service Last Week | 29.7 | 31.2 | 37.7 | 26.9 |
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