Oh, trust me - you are no more confused than I was, once upon a time. I hope I can explain properly!

While geographically, Florida is South of Georgia, historically it was part of Spain originally, not part of Englnad. So culturally, it was different than Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia.

Once Florida became part of America, people migrated there from Georgia, the Carolinas, etc., bringing their culture with them, so Northern Florida took on some of those traits. But the Southern half of the state remained more Spanish, and then when Northerners (Yankees) started to immigrate to Florida from places like New York, they would go to South Florida.

So that ended up meaning that the Northern part of the state is more connected to the Southern part of the United States and people will talk with that accent and follow college football and NASCAR and so on. While the Southern part of the state is divided between the Spanish culture (mostly from Cubans these days) and that of Northerners. So you'll have the more liberal culture of Key West, Miami, etc., and the enclaves of transplants from the Midwest or Northeast in places like Coral Gables.

I probably have talked more about this than you were interested in, but ... feel free to talk my ear off sometime about places you've lived. I will honestly be interested and want to learn more! :-)