Central Time. Daylight saving time is observed peninsula-wide. Government There are 15 counties in the Upper Peninsula. State prisons are located in Baraga, Marquette, Munising, Newberry, and Kincheloe. Politics Historically, the Upper Peninsula tended to vote for the Democratic Party due to its legacy of mining and historically high union membership. However, as union strength in the peninsula declined, in the 2010s the region has become more leaning towards the Republican Party (though split-ticket voting at the local level became a common practice). In the 2012 presidential election, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney carried all but two counties. In the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections, Republican candidate Donald Trump won all counties except Marquette County. All counties in the UP are part of Michigan's 1st congressional district. Jack Bergman, a Republican, has been the U.S. representative for this district since January 2017. In Michigan's 2010 gubernatorial election Republican Rick Snyder carried every UP county but one, Gogebic, on his way to victory over his Democratic opponent, Virg Bernero. Proposed statehood Due to the geographic separation and perceived cultural and political differences from the Lower Peninsula, at various times there have been proposals for the Upper Peninsula to secede from Michigan as a 51st state named Superior, sometimes including portions of northern Wisconsin and/or the northern Lower Peninsula. Several prominent legislators, including the region's long-serving state representative Dominic Jacobetti, attempted unsuccessfully to gain passage of such a bill in the 1970s. It would be the least populous state in the union, and as stronger connections to the rest of Michigan have developed since completion of the Mackinac Bridge in the 1950s, the proposal has remained largely dormant since the 1970s. Demographics The Upper Peninsula remains a predominantly rural region. As of the 2020 census the region had a population of 301,608, just more than 3% of Michigan's total population and a decline of 3.2% from 2010. According to the 2010 census, 103,211 people live in the 12 towns of at least 4,000 people, covering . A total of 116,548 people live in the 18 towns and villages of at least 2,000 people, which cover —less than 1% of the peninsula's land area. Federal censuses indicate that the population of the Upper Peninsula grew throughout the 19th century as European settlers moved into the region, then boomed around the turn of the century, and experienced gradual decline overall during most of the