Is Ohio in the Midwest? Some people consider it part of the South (yes, really)

If you don’t think Ohio is in the Midwest, you’re not alone.

If you think Ohio is in the South, you’re also apparently not alone. The bottom line, though? Most Ohioans think they live in in the Midwest (87.2%), according to new research from Middle West Review and Emerson College Polling shared with The Dispatch.

In the groups’ original Oct. 2023 study, 78% of Ohio residents surveyed said the state is Midwestern, although that number is significantly lower than other traditionally Midwestern states, many of which top 90%, The Dispatch previously reported.

The results in Ohio intrigued the researchers, so they came back and conducted a larger poll to ask more Ohioans where they live: in the Midwest, the South or in Appalachia.

Of 2,000 responses, Ohioans think they live in

• The Midwest: 87.2%
• Appalachia: 9%
• The South: 3.9%

While Emerson is still processing the zip code locations of the Ohio poll respondents, Middle West Review editor Jon Lauck said that the data should reveal that the non-Midwestern responses come from areas along the Ohio River and near to West Virginia.

Lauck said that the new results “prove decisively that the vast majority of Ohioans consider themselves Midwesterners.”

@Colebehr_report

Cbehrens@dispatch.com