I don’t live in the South but I can tell you anecdotally that whenever I visit, all my closest Southern friends tell me how they envision us Northeasterners living by our own set of (non-) rules. Now, I’m speaking of a sample size equal to about 10, but all of those 10 friends think we are just plain crazy up here with our raincoats, our wall to wall carpet, and closing our swimming pools from Labor Day to Memorial Day.
And, gosh darn it, if you look at our latest set of data, maybe my Southern friends are right because in general, the rest of the country outside of the South is more likely to tolerate:
| Rest of Country (non-South) |
South | |
| Breaking the rules | 54% | 44% |
| Lying | 42% | 33% |
| Breaking the law | 23% | 17% |
And, Northeasterners overall are the region most likely to say it’s acceptable to:
| Northeast | Rest of Country (non-NE) |
|
| Not offer to pay for something if a cashier doesn’t charge you | 58% | 50% |
| Plagiarize something for work or school | 33% | 30% |
| Use a handicapped spot in a parking lot, even if you don’t have a disability | 32% | 26% |
| Shoplift if you can’t afford an item | 26% | 19% |
| Lie under oath | 23% | 18% |
And, Northeasterners are more likely than Southerners specifically to say it’s acceptable to:
The only law-breaking (among the set of “rules” we tested) that Northeasterners seem to object to – more strongly than the other regions – is keeping an unregistered handgun in the house (63% saying completely unacceptable in the Northeast vs 55% unacceptable in the South).
To be clear, this does not mean that Northeasterners are more likely to actually engage in this morally questionable behavior; just that they are more likely to find it acceptable.
So there’s some red state/blue state moral reality for the candidates to sound bite on …. What do you think?
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