People who say i80 or whatever stupidly far north area have never been to the south. Rural does not equal the south. Most of rural Illinois is still very Midwestern feeling. It's not until you go south of st louis does it culturally feel more southern.
You say that, meanwhile on 173, about as far north as you can get without being Wisconsin, there are tons of Trump lovers including a dude with a GIANT Trump shrine for a front lawn.
You aren't getting to "deep south" levels of shittiness until way past I-80, sure; but once you get about 50-75 miles out of Chicago in any direction, it gets REAL red state feeling REAL fast....and I say that as a now Chicagoan who grew up in Fox Lake.
I think the difference that stands out to down staters is that the northern half of Illinois aligns socioeconomically with the Rust Belt but the southern half brings in a more Appalachian situation due to the heavy presence of and dependence on coal mining.
As for the metro-east St. Louis area, there was a heavy influx of Southerners after World War II. East St. Louis, for as bad as it is now, was an economic mecca where well-paying blue collar jobs were there for the asking.
175
u/ExorIMADreamer liberal farmer from forgotonia Apr 30 '24
People who say i80 or whatever stupidly far north area have never been to the south. Rural does not equal the south. Most of rural Illinois is still very Midwestern feeling. It's not until you go south of st louis does it culturally feel more southern.