Voters in Context

Abstract

Recent analysis of presidential politics has suggested that the attention to the rise of the suburban voter during the elections of the 1990s may have been misplaced. Researchers have argued that discussion of “soccer moms” misses the degree to which women differ in ways that have little to do with place, and that attention paid to suburbanites by Democrats misses the electoral importance of White, non-university-educated voters. This article argues that although these characteristics of voters are important for understanding their support for particular presidential candidates, so is their location. Holding individual characteristics constant, voters living in cities are more likely to support Democrats than their suburban counterparts. In addition, the relationship between policy preferences, party identification, and vote choice varies across cities and suburbs. City and suburban residents have different views on some issues and weight these views differently when deciding how to vote and which party to support.