Sparsely populated agricultural areas and shitholes like Bakersfield aren’t common tourist destinations. You don’t need to tell someone to avoid them. So yeah they’re “deep red” in the sense that half a dozen yokels that live there are idiots, but they’re very, very much in the minority.

And honestly, having traveled a bit, even California Conservatives aren’t as Conservative as they think they are; a fact which becomes extremely apparent when they leave the state and then get slapped in the face with actual out and proud racism and they get othered for being from California.

It would be funny if it weren’t so sad.