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Polls and elections: Southern discomfort? Regional differences in voter decision making in the 2000 presidential election.

Article Excerpt
The contemporary American South continues to experience dramatic changes in population, economics, and partisanship that have fundamentally altered the political landscape of not only the region but the entire nation. The wide-ranging effects of these developments on electoral behavior are not entirely understood, but it is unquestionable that the New South remains as important in American politics--particularly presidential elections--as the Old South. With nearly two-thirds of the Electoral College votes needed to win the presidency, the South is a considerable electoral prize. (1) More than a decade ago, Black and Black concluded that "as the united South goes: so goes the nation" (1992, 344). It is no coincidence that the only Democrats to win the presidency since 1960 have hailed from former Confederate states (Lyndon B. Johnson from Texas, Jimmy Carter from Georgia, and Bill Clinton from Arkansas). Despite the critical political relevance of the region, Southern voting behavior has been an understudied area research. (2) To be sure, there is a rich descriptive literature detailing voting trends in the contemporary South (e.g., Black and Black 1992, 2003). Missing, however, is a comprehensive empirical study of the individual-level underpinnings of Southern voting behavior--not only how Southern voters compare to the rest of the electorate but also how they match up to our general theories of political behavior. (3)

Existing research has long noted that residents of America's Southern states demonstrate unique patterns of voting behavior--ranging from a substantially lower propensity to register and vote, to an increased likelihood of casting split-ticket ballots (i.e., most often voting for Republican presidential candidates and Democratic congressional candidates), to the transformation from a Democratic stronghold to an increasingly loyal Republican base in recent years (Burden and Kimball 2002; Frymer, Kim, and Bimes 1997; Wattenberg 2002). Empirical models of political behavior regularly include a "South" dummy variable to account for this Southern distinctiveness (e.g., Alvarez and Nagler 1998). Ultimately, however, an indicator variables tells us nothing about why Southern voters are unique or even what factors influence their singular patterns of political behavior. Are these trends attributable to simple differences in the distribution of fundamentals (such as demographics, ideological perspective, or partisan affiliation), or are the decision-making processes of Southern voters actually distinct from the rest of the electorate? More importantly, given the recent partisan realignment of the South, have the distinctive patterns of voting behavior disappeared? Cowden (2001) suggests that we are witnessing the "Southernization of the Nation and the Nationalization of the South." Sharer and Johnston similarly find evidence of "the nationalization of partisan politics" and the "closing of North/South comparisons" (2001, 623). Is the "South" dummy variable no longer necessary in our general models of presidential vote choice and turnout? Answers to these questions will speak not only to our understanding of recent political transformations in the South but also to our theoretical understanding of voter decision making, and even to our expectations about the future strength of the Republican and Democratic parties in the South.

Using survey data from Knowledge Networks in the 2000 election, we compare the voting calculus of Southern and non-Southern voters. Despite arguments that regional differences may be in decline, we find that the voting calculus of Southern voters differs from the rest of the electorate, with ideology weighed more heavily in the vote choice decision in the South. This effect is particularly pronounced among individuals cross-pressured between their party identification and ideological preferences. These findings suggest that general models of voting behavior should more carefully consider the importance of individual-level differences in decision making if we are to gain a full understanding of presidential voting behavior.

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The New South

The Southern region of the United States, defined here as the 11 states of the Old Confederacy, has changed dramatically in recent decades (Lamis 1984; Petrocik 1987; Shafer and Johnston 2006; Stanley 1988). According to the 2000 U.S. Census, the South was the second-fastest-growing region in the country (closely following the West) with a 17% increase in population from 1990 to 2000, adding an additional 14.8 million people) Furthermore, metropolitan growth increased dramatically in the South--as did the influx of Hispanic residents. Increases in education, income, and the median age have also contributed to the changes across the South (Cobb 1993). Most notable, however, has been the transformation of the South from the heart of Democratic strength during the first part of the twentieth century to the foundation of the contemporary Republican resurgence (Black and Black 2003; McCarty, Poole, and Rosenthal 2006).

As shown by the now-familiar pattern in Figure 1, increases in Republican Party identification expanded rapidly in the South during the final decades of the previous century. (5) Simultaneously, the ranks of the Democratic faithful declined. In the rest of the country, changes in party identification were much less dramatic. As shown in Figure 2, party identification in non-Southern states remained comparatively stable, albeit with some growth in Republican identification during the 1980s and the latter part of the 1990s. It is clear that the once solidly Democratic South has now shifted to become a competitive two-party region.

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A great deal of research has investigated the rise of the Republican Party across the South, and many scholars have examined the role of race, the influx of new...

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