I’ve spent considerable time in Ohio. In a past life, two of my largest clients were headquarted in the western half of the state. I also served for awhile as an interim GM for an office of my former employer in Ohio’s northeast quadrant. One of the things I remember most about my time there was the irrational animosity many Ohioans felt for the Pittsburgh Steelers. As much as that juggernaut of a football team was loved in Western Pennsylvania, it was hated in Ohio, and the closer to Cleveland you got, the stronger the hate grew.
Clearly, from last night’s primary results, the similarities of the people of Ohio and Pennsylvania far outweigh their divergent football loyalties. Consider this chart, courtesy of RCP:
RCP’s Jay Cost summarized it well: “… we can see why Pennsylvania and Ohio produced similar results in the aggregate. Clinton did roughly as well these groups in both states. Obama, for his part, improved here and there on her best Ohio groups. For instance, he trimmed her lead among white men. However, Clinton minimized this by doing slightly better with some of Obama’s best groups – like, for instance, the college educated. Overall, it added up to a roughly similar result.”