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Title: A Direct-Observation Approach to Identify Small-Area Variation in Political Behavior: The Case of Income, Partisanship, and Geography

Citation Type: Miscellaneous

Publication Year: 2013

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Abstract: Political behavioral research on geographic variation typically employs national surveys and rarely digs below the congressional district level. The data used in such analyses are not suitable for detecting geographic patterns of shared political behavior, or communities of interest, in geographic data. Using large databases containing micro-level voter data, we identify the communities in which different types of voter behavior cluster geographically, without relying on the assumptions associated with survey research. As a motivating example, we examine variation in income-based voting across and within states. Using block-group-level party registration data and precinct-level election returns, we employ a combination of nonparametric and multi-level models to demonstrate that much state-by-state variation in income-based voting is driven by differences in geographic clusters that rarely encompass states and often cross state boundaries.

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Authors: Nall, Clayton; Hersh, Eitan

Publisher: Yale University

Data Collections: IPUMS NHGIS

Topics: Other

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