THE SUBURBS AND SHIFTING PARTY LOYALTIES

In: Public opinion quarterly: journal of the American Association for Public Opinion Research, Volume 22, Issue 4, p. 473-482

Abstract

The rapid growth of American suburbs has increased their pol'al importance. These heavily Republican (Rep) areas contribute increasing proportions of the vote in many states. If the subUr Rep vote is made up only of normally Rep city-dwellers who have moved, the state-wide party balance will not be affected. However, some writers hypothesize that moving to the suburbs involves changes in environment & status which convert Ur Democrats (Dem) to subUr Rep's. Analysis of the Survey Res Center's national sample in the 1952 presidential election shows that within each educ'al, income & occup'al level suburbanites tend to be more Rep than city residents. SubUr union members & Dem's are both more likely than their city counterparts to associate with Rep's. The small number of recent arrivals to the suburbs in the sample were much more likely than long-term residents to be Dem's. This suggests that some conversion occurs. AA-IPSA.