US urban agglomerations electoral shifts in 2000–2016

Abstract

More than 80% of US population live in metropolitan areas. Voting in agglomerations largely determines the outcome of the presidential, or any other, elections. The electoral processes inside high-density territories are a derivative of settlement peculiarities, and socio-economic status, ethnic and racial composition of people at these areas. Researchers record the increase of polarization level in recent decades. This increase closely related to the population’s political preferences. Polarization can lead to the disunity of society, a reduction in socio-economic interactions and to local isolationism in the long term. This article analyzes the results of the US presidential election at the level of metropolitan areas in the period of 2000–2016 and shows the distribution of all 382 agglomerations depending on the voting results within their boundaries. It is also revealing the spatial patterns of locations of these agglomerations. The article determined that more than two-thirds of all agglomeration’s population has stable electoral preferences, and also provides evidence of the ongoing and, in some cases, intensifying process of “The Big Sort” and an increase of polarization level in US urban population.