Recent electoral research has claimed that individuals in the United States are self–segregating along political lines. In this paper, I use the Twin Cities, Minnesota, metropolitan area as a case study to test for the presence of political segregation through statistical and spatial analyses of electoral data from 1992 to 2012. I find that while segregation by partisan voting at the individual level is comparatively low, it has increased during the study period, and there exists substantial spatial clustering in voting patterns at aggregate levels. These distinct electoral divides between central city and exurb suggest spatial sorting of the electorate in the metropolitan area.
Segregación Política de la Ciudad: Aglomeración Espacial por Voto Partidario en el Área Metropolitana de Minneapolis–St Paul. (Kyle E. Walker)
Resumen
Estudios electorales recientes señalan que individuos en los Estados Unidos se auto–segregan dentro de líneas políticas. En este artículo uso el caso de Twin Cities, en la zona metropolitana Minnesota, para poner a prueba la hipótesis de la presencia de se–gregación política a través de análisis espacial y estadístico de información electoral desde 1992 al 2012. Encuentro que mientras la segregación por medio de voto partidario a nivel individual es comparativamente baja; ésta ha aumentado durante el periodo de estudio; y que existe un aglomeramiento espacial sustantivo en los patrones de votación a nivel agregado. Estas distintas brechas electorales entre la ciudad central y sus exurbios sugieren una organización espacial del electorado en el área metropolitana.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AbramsSamuel J., and FiorinaMorris P.2012. “The Big Sort That Wasn't: A Skeptical Reexamination.” PS: Political Science and Politics45(2):203–10.
2.
AnselinLuc. 1995. “Local Indicators of Spatial Association– LISA.” Geographical Analysis27(2):93–115.
3.
AnselinLuc. 2005. Exploring Spatial Data with GeoDa: A Workbook. Urbana, IL: UIUC Spatial Analysis Laboratory.
4.
BishopBill. 2004. “The Great Divide (series).” The Austin American–Statesman, April 2004–December 2004.
5.
BishopBill. 2008. The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like–Minded America is Tearing Us Apart. New York: Mariner Books, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
6.
BlakelyEdward J., and SnyderMary G.1999. Fortress America: Gated Communities in the United States. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.
7.
BrooksDavid. 2001. “One Nation, Slightly Divisible.” The Atlantic Monthly288(5):53–65.
8.
CarrDavid. 2009. “Al Franken and the Odd Politics of Minnesota.” The New York Times, 5 July.
9.
CarsonJamie L., CrespinMichael H., FinocchiaroCharles J., and RohdeDavid W.2007. “Redistricting and Party Polarization in the U.S. House of Representatives.” American Politics Research35(6):878–904.
10.
CondonPatrick. 2008. “Bachmann says Obama ‘may’ be anti–American.” The Associated Press, 17 October.
11.
CoopermanAlan. 2006. “GOP's Hold on Evangelicals Weakening.” The Washington Post, 6 October.
12.
DeltonJennifer A.2002. Making Minnesota Liberal: Civil Rights and the Transformation of the Democratic Party. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
13.
EnsleyMichael J.2007. “Candidate Divergence, Ideology, and Vote Choice in U.S. Senate Elections.” American Politics Research35(1):103–22.
14.
FiorinaMorris P., and AbramsSamuel J.2008. “Political Polarization in the American Public.” Annual Review of Political Science11:563–88.
15.
FloridaRichard. 2008. Who's Your City? How the Creative Economy is Making Where to Live the Most Important Decision of Your Life. New York: Basic Books.
16.
FrommerFrederic J.2007. “Ellison Uses Thomas Jefferson's Quran.” The Washington Post, 5 January.
GlaeserEdward, and VigdorJacob. 2012. “The End of the Segregated Century: Racial Separation in America's Neighborhoods, 1890–2010.” Center for State and Local Leadership, The Manhattan Institute.
22.
GlaeserEdward L., and WardBryce A.2006. “Myths and Realities of American Political Geography.” Journal of Economic Perspectives20(2):119–44.
23.
HanlonBernadette, ShortJohn Rennie, and VicinoThomas J.2010. Cities and Suburbs: New Metropolitan Realities in the United States. New York: Routledge.
24.
HeppenJohn. 2003. “Racial and Social Diversity and U.S. Presidential Election Regions.” The Professional Geographer55(2):191–05.
25.
JacobsLarry R., and MillerJ.M.2008. “The Political Battle for Minnesota's Suburbs.” Report prepared by the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance, Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota.
26.
JurjevichJason, and SchrockGreg. 2012. “Migration Patterns of Portland's Young and College–Educated, 1980–2010.” Metropolitan Knowledge Network. Portland State University.
27.
KlinknerPhilip A.2004. “Red and Blue Scare: The Continuing Diversity of the American Electoral Landscape.” The Forum2(2):1–10.
28.
KrugmanPaul. 2002. “America The Polarized.” The New York Times. 4 January.
29.
KruseKevin M.2005. White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of Modern Conservatism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
30.
LassiterMatthew. 2006. The Silent Majority: Suburban Politics in the Sunbelt South. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
31.
LaymanGeoffrey C., CarseyThomas M., and HorowitzJuliana M.2006. “Party Polarization in American Politics: Characteristics, Causes, and Consequences.” Annual Review of Political Science9:83–110.
32.
LowSetha. 2003. Behind the Gates: Life, Security, and the Pursuit of Happiness in Fortress America. New York: Routledge.
33.
McCartyNolan. 2007. “The Policy Effects of Political Polarization.” In PiersonPaul and SkocpolTheda (eds.), The Transformation of American Politics: Activist Government and the Rise of Conservatism. pp. 223–55. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
34.
McGheeEric, and KrimmDaniel. 2009. “Party Registration and the Geography of Party Polarization.” Polity41(3):345–67.
35.
McGirrLisa. 2001. Suburban Warriors: The Origins of the New American Right. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
36.
MorettiEnrico. 2012. The New Geography of Jobs. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
37.
MurphyAlexandra. 2010. “The Symbolic Dimensions of Suburban Poverty: Challenges and Opportunities Posed by Variations in the Contours of Suburban Poverty.” Sociological Forum25(3):541–69.
38.
MurrayCharles. 2012. Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960–2010. New York: Crown.
39.
National Journal Staff. 2012. A Congress Divided: National Journal's 2011 Vote Ratings. The National Journal Online, http://www.nationaljournal.com/2011voteratings (last accessed 3 June 2012).
40.
OlsonJoel. 2008. “Whiteness and the Polarization of American Politics.” Political Research Quarterly61(4):704–18.
41.
OrfieldMyron. 1997. Metropolitics: A Regional Agenda for Community and Stability. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.
42.
OrfieldMyron. 2002. American Metropolitics: The New Suburban Reality. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.
43.
OrfieldMyron, and LuceThomas J.2009. Region: Planning the Future of the Twin Cities. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
44.
OwensAnn. 2012. “Neighborhoods on the Rise: A Typology of Neighborhoods Experiencing Socioeconomic Ascent.” City & Community11:345–69.
45.
ReardonSean F., and BischoffKendra. 2011. “Income Inequality and Income Segregation.” American Journal of Sociology116(4):1092–153.
46.
ShinMichael E., and AgnewJohn. 2007. “The Geographical Dynamics of Italian Electoral Change, 1987–2001.” Electoral Studies26:287–302.
47.
SolariClaudia. 2012. “Affluent Neighborhood Persistence and Change in U.S. Cities.” City & Community11:370–88.
48.
TaylorStuart. 2007. “Polarization Hurts Security—and Liberty.” The National Journal39(40):19–20.
49.
WalksR. Alan2006. “The Causes of City–Suburban Political Polarization? A Canadian Case Study.” Annals of the Association of American Geographers96(2):390–414.
50.
WatsonTara. 2007. “New Housing, Income Inequality, and Distressed Metropolitan Areas.” Metropolitan Policy Program, The Brookings Institution.
51.
Welsh–HugginsAndrew. 2008. “Bill Clinton warns of growing polarization.” USA Today, 12 July.
52.
WilliamsonThad. 2008. “Sprawl, Spatial Location, and Politics: How Ideological Identification Tracks the Built Environment.” American Politics Research36(6):903–33.
53.
WongDavid S.2003. “Spatial Decomposition of Segregation Indices: A Framework Toward Measuring Segregation at Multiple Levels.” Geographical Analysis35(3):179–94.
