The use of cracker down here is really weird. It's actually got its own etymology distinct from the use of "cracker" in the rest of the country, and is used to specifically refer to (generally white) folks down here who've got roots going way back, and generally tied to the historic cattle farming and industry in the state. And it's used by those people to refer to themselves as "crackers."
Wikipedia seems to have a decent page on it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_cracker
That's definitely what it is. I've lived in NC, OH, IN, and PA as well, and they all can have similar levels of batshit but it never gets reported on as much.