It's Amazing How Many Americans Think They Live in the Midwest When They Don't

[highplainsdem]

24. I consider myself a Midwesterner. I've lived in several of the states that map shows the US Census

considers Midwestern. (I've also lived in New York - Manhattan - and Florida, on the Emerald Coast.)

I was born on what is technically the High Plains

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Plains_(United_States)

which is part of the western edge of the Great Plains. The Great Plains stretch from Canada to Texas and New Mexico.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Plains

I usually just think in terms of the entire region, including Oklahoma, as the middle of the country. Central US.

I think the term Midwest is just the most convenient to distinguish that vast region from the east and west and Gulf coasts, mountain west, desert southwest, and south.

It's also Tornado Alley.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tornado_Alley

As for what attitude that survey was finding, I'd guess it was more a feeling of what part of the country is the heartland:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heartland_(United_States)

The heartland, when referring to a cultural region of the United States, is the central land area of the country,[1] usually the Midwestern United States[2] or the states that do not border the Atlantic or Pacific oceans,[3] associated with mainstream or traditional values, such as economic self-sufficiency, conservative political and religious ideals, and rootedness in agrarian life.[2]

The US Census Bureau defines the Midwest as consisting of 12 states: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. Portions of other non-coastal states can be included in the region as well. These may include eastern portions of the Mountain States (Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming) and northern portions of some Southern states, such as Arkansas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and West Virginia.