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Title: Income Inequality, Risk Polarization, and the American Electorate

Citation Type: Miscellaneous

Publication Year: 2007

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Abstract: At the micro-level (individuals), this paper argues and shows that partisanship is not only shapedby the traditionally suggested socio-economic factors, but also by the uncertainty of future income(risk exposure): people tend to identify with the Democratic Party when they are poor, or whenthey face a high degree of risk exposure. The reverse is true for Republican Party identifiers. Thisimplies that rich individuals facing a high degree of risk exposure (or poor people facing low riskexposure) are cross-pressured: while their income suggests that they should identify with theRepublican Party, their risk exposure makes them sympathize with the Democrats.This has implications at the macro-level (country). To understand a societys polarization onredistributional issues, it is of interest to know how risk exposure is distributed across the incomescale. It is shown that the U.S. experienced increasing risk exposure at the lower end of the incomedistribution (risk polarization). This could explain increased polarization in the Americansociety.

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Authors: Rehm, Philipp

Publisher: Duke University

Data Collections: IPUMS CPS

Topics: Other, Poverty and Welfare

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