The red-blue state delineation has been referenced by researchers exploring political behavior across the states. Gelman et. al. (2007, 365) point out that have real, significant “states cultural and political that regional differences seem, if anything, to be getting differences…..and more pronounced in the last However, they show that the decade or two.” media’s simplification of the red-blue delineation can be they note that “somewhat misguided” (p.365). For example, when it comes to the role of income in political preferences, income matters more in red states than in blue. They find rich people in poor states are more likely to support Republicans but in rich states income does not explain voter preference. Lax and Phillips (2012) show that the blue distinction can correlate with real policy effects in state houses. Typically liberal states have more liberal policies and conservative states have more conservative policies. However, when policy is incongruent with the majority of public opinion, states have a tendency towards moving beyond median voter preferences leading to policy that is more to “polarized…relative less polarized (ideologically mixed) opinion majorities (p. 164).” In the third edition of Fiorina continues Culture Wars: The Myth of a Polarized America, to show that the masses are not as divided along the red-blue lines as so often touted in the media. Rather the differences that exist are at the elite level where polarization has become entrenched. Along a similar vein, Klinker (2004) argues that mostly Americans are still living in districts where electoral politics is competitive and in counties where there is considerable mixing of political parties. Gimpel and Karnes (2006, 467) note that recent elections show that the red-blue maps a rural-urban divide the geographical delineation as within really “mask states.” Others describe metropolitan and non-metropolitan and find it helpful in understanding presidential election outcomes (Morrill, Knopp, and Brown, 2011). The rural-urban divide became a national
The red-blue state delineation has been referenced by researchers exploring political behavior across the states. Gelman et. al. (2007, 365) point out that “states have real, significant cultural and political differences…..and that regional differences seem, if anything, to be getting more pronounced in the last decade or two.” However, they show that the media’s simplification of the red-blue delineation can be “somewhat misguided” (p.365). For example, they note that when it comes to the role of income in political preferences, income matters more in red states than in blue. They find rich people in poor states are more likely to support Republicans but in rich states income does not explain voter preference. Lax and Phillips (2012) show that the distinction can correlate with real policy effects in state houses. Typically liberal states have more liberal policies and conservative states have more conservative policies. However, when policy is incongruent with the majority of public opinion, states have a tendency towards moving beyond median voter preferences leading to policy that is more “polarized…relative to less polarized (ideologically mixed) opinion majorities (p. 164).” In the third edition of Culture Wars: The Myth of a Polarized America, Fiorina continues to show that the masses are not as divided along the red-blue lines as so often touted in the media. Rather the differences that exist are at the elite level where polarization has become entrenched. Along a similar vein, Klinker (2004) argues that mostly Americans are still living in districts where electoral politics is competitive and in counties where there is considerable mixing of political parties. Gimpel and Karnes (2006, 467) note that recent elections show that the red-blue maps really “mask a rural-urban divide within states.” Others describe the geographical delineation as metropolitan and non-metropolitan and find it helpful in understanding presidential election outcomes (Morrill, Knopp, and Brown, 2011). The rural-urban divide became a national blue
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