Wednesday, July 09, 2008

The Big Sort

We are studying an interesting new book from Bill Bishop, The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-Minded America is Tearing Us Apart. Bishop, a reporter from Austin, has been writing about the increasing geographic polarization in America, especially as it shows up in politics. His particular unit of analysis: party votes per county.

One of his big findings is that the proportion of all counties that have lopsided election results - 20% or more - has grown from about a quarter 30 years ago to about half of all counties today. Many states have close elections, but that is because it way-Democratic cities are balanced by the way Republican-suburbs and rural areas.

Moreover, Bishop argues, many counties are becoming so lopsided because people are moving to areas where like-minded people live. There are fewer undecideds, and not much mind-changing. More tomorrow.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Birds of a feather flock together. It is as simple as that. Why do liberals find this fact so offensive. I don't like the city because most are crowded, dirty, crime ridden and full of people I have little in common with. I don't hate them I just don't enjoy the life style that they do.

Gruntled said...

One kind of bird likes diversity.

Anonymous said...

I'll bet you a doughtnut my street has more diversity than yours. It is the city life style that I don't care for. Nice try though.