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City–suburban electoral polarization in Great Britain, 1950–2001
Author(s) -
Walks R Alan
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
transactions of the institute of british geographers
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.196
H-Index - 107
eISSN - 1475-5661
pISSN - 0020-2754
DOI - 10.1111/j.1475-5661.2005.00185.x
Subject(s) - electoral geography , conurbation , residence , geography , voting , polarization (electrochemistry) , economic geography , regional science , political science , demographic economics , demography , sociology , economics , politics , law , chemistry , archaeology
The degree to which residents of British inner cities and suburbs have diverged in their voting behaviour over the post‐war period is analysed in this article. Examining aggregate election results by constituency, it is demonstrated that residents of inner cities and suburbs are indeed polarizing in their electoral choices. OLS regression analysis is conducted using constituency‐level data to determine the relevance of intra‐urban differences for understanding geographic variation in the vote in relation to those for region, size of conurbation and urban–rural distinctions. Results show that urban place of residence is particularly important for understanding the shifting geography of Conservative support. The implications of this research for electoral change in Britain are discussed.