“Midwestern Values” is not just an Al Franken PAC. It’s a real thing. “Midwestern Values” aka “Midwestern Nice” is sort of an attitude found among the Middle American region. Be nice. Play fair. When you see a car stopped on a highway, pull over and help. When you see your elderly neighbor struggling with her groceries, stop and help her. And help her put them away too. When you see your country in danger of falling into a neo-Fascist dictatorship, vote for the nice lady who can stop it.
It’s all very Midwestern. Very nice. A smidge ignorant when it comes to real problems such as the corrosive poverty trap where too many generations of Americans find themselves. A bit, well, “white” when it comes to acknowledging the racial divide in this country. (“Honestly, why can't we all just get a long?") A bit too sympathetic to the GOP when it comes to voting. Moderate Reagan Democrats. But nice. In many ways genuinely nice in a sort of Garrison Keillor way.
And Midwestern Nice will swing Ohio to Clinton and keep the country on track. The latest Quinnipiac poll (a highly-rated polling firm that usually does not show good numbers for Clinton) has put Clinton ahead by 4 points in Ohio. “Real Clear Politics” has Clinton leading Ohio by an average of 2.6 points. Wisconsin has Clinton leading by 9 points. Michigan by 6 points. The latest poll in Minnesota has a 13 point lead for Clinton. For contrast, at this point in 2012, Marquette only had Obama leading Romney in Wisconsin by 5 points. Now Marquette shows Clinton with a 15 point lead over Trump! The Detroit News had Obama only lead Romney in Michigan by 6 points. The latest polls from Michigan by the Detroit News has Clinton leading by 9 points. Granted Clinton is not in Obama’s spot in Ohio by this point in 2012. (Quinnipiac had Obama leading Ohio by 6 points in August, 2012. Quinnipiac’s latest poll has Clinton leading by only 4 points, but Trump has been campaigning heavily in Ohio lately.) Another tidbit: CBS had Obama ahead by only 3 points in Florida at this time in 2012… and many polls showed Romney having a healthy edge in Florida! The latest polls from CBS show Clinton with a 5 point edge.
More tellingly were the results of the Kansas Republican primaries. Kansas is hardly a state that is going to flip for Clinton even in the rosiest of scenarios but a few comments caught my eye. Representative Tim Heulskamp, a well-funded Tea Party obstructionist, was ousted by a little-know moderate Republican (and obstetrician) named Roger Marshall. The voters were definitely sending a message there. They didn’t like the new tone of the GOP. They wanted their old GOP back. And Roger Marshall said this:
MARSHALL: Kansans do not speak ill will of other people. We don't brag. We're not proud. We're peacemakers. And when he went negative and sort of throwing mud, our numbers started going up.
Speaking as someone who spend her adolescence in Indiana and went to college in Ohio, I can only say yes. Yes. That is very Midwestern. I don’t see Indiana or Kansas turning blue this election (despite a rather interesting poll in Indiana taken recently)…. but people there are nice. They don’t like Clinton but they don’t like Trump either. Hm. Stay tuned.