The great Upper Midwest standoff: Nation thinks Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa are all 'equally good'
Wisconsin’s Green Bay Packers lead in Superbowl titles, Iowa gets the nation’s first crack at picking the nation’s president and – although some Wisconsinites beg to differ – Minnesota leads in number of lakes.
But which state is better?
I was raised in Minnesota, went to college in Iowa and now organize much of my winter around Wisconsin’s internationally renowned American Birkebeiner Nordic ski race. I am all too familiar with the cross-border rivalry.
So, when I had the chance to add virtually any question in the world, for free, to a scientifically representative sample of American adults, I naturally jumped at the chance to finally settle the score.
The question: “Which state is better? Minnesota, Wisconsin or Iowa?”
The result? It turns out that the survey’s respondents out-midwesterned me. The most popular answer was the one added to the mix by Verasight, who rightfully exercised their prerogative as the survey’s sponsor, to add the option, “All are equally good.”
The second most popular answer among the survey’s 1,000 respondents was, “I don’t know.”
There were some interesting findings in the survey’s crosstabs. For example, men were less likely than women to say “I don’t know.”
Younger adults show a slight preference for Minnesota, especially as compared to Iowa. As do those who are more highly educated. As do Democrats.
But even the young, the highly educated and the Democrats favor “All are equally good” in much higher numbers than Minnesota.
In other findings from the Verasight survey, one-third of American adults indicated that New York City is the best region for pizza, while another one-third felt that Italy has the best pizza. One-quarter favored Chicago.
Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin were somehow omitted from the “best region for pizza” list.