Abstract:
The thesis is that there is no difference in political preference of city or suburban residents without a concomitant difference in social status.
The Presidential electoral returns for 1972 and
1976 were correlated with socioeconomic information from the 1970 census of population for Des Moines, Polk County, Iowa. The statistical analysis was done by computer.
The findings support the thesis. In addition, the
findings indicate that lower socioeconomic status registered voters reside in the east side of Des Moines and the contiguous suburban townships and tend to vote Democrat; that the higher socioeconomic status registered voters reside in
the west side of Des Moines and the contiguous suburban townships, and tend to vote Republican; that lower and higher socioeconomic status voters tend to participate proportionately in the actual voting process, once they are registered; and that suburban residents tend to be in a
higher socioeconomic status than city residents.
