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PaigeKelly_MasterThesis_2017.pdf (1.83 MB)

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Rurality, Region, and Republican Voting

Kelly, Paige
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7823-8500
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1492602954178696

Abstract Details

2017, Master of Science, Ohio State University, Environment and Natural Resources.
The recent political polarization in US presidential elections has often been depicted as a function of the dichotomous relationship between populations of red-rural and blue-urban states by popular media and social sciences. This approach widely assumes that rurality operates as a discrete determinant of individuals’ voting choices independent of their sociodemographic attributes. As a result, this generalization often conflates rurality, in and of itself, as a key influence of Republican voting rather than recognizing the role of sociodemographic attributes, more prevalent in rural areas, in influencing voting choices. In this study, I ask to what degree rurality is a significant influence of Republican voting. More specifically, I seek to address the degree to which individuals’ geographic regional contexts, relative to their sociodemographic characteristics, influence their voting choices in presidential elections. Drawing on General Social Survey (GSS) data from the 2000 to 2012 presidential elections, I utilize logistic regression analyses to explore the relationships between individuals’ rural-urban contexts, geopolitical cultural regions, and sociodemographic attributes in explaining differences in Republican voting. I find that at the national level broad rural-urban divides are not a significant influence of differences in individuals’ voting choices. This supports the need for a more sensitive political sociology that appreciates how Republican voting makes sense within and across the unique contexts of both rural and urban life.
Linda Lobao, PhD (Advisor)
Kerry Ard, PhD (Committee Member)
Jeff Sharp, PhD (Committee Member)
107 p.
Sociology
rural-urban dynamics; rural sociology; political sociology; spatial inequality

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Kelly, P. (2017). Rurality, Region, and Republican Voting [Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1492602954178696

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Kelly, Paige. Rurality, Region, and Republican Voting. 2017. Ohio State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1492602954178696.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Kelly, Paige. "Rurality, Region, and Republican Voting." Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1492602954178696

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1492602954178696
891
© 2017, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.