Conclusion

Abstract

In this concluding chapter, we summarize our core findings and highlight what they suggest about the political geography of presidential elections in the future. By employing spatial methods, we have been able to identify the spatial structure of voting in the United States since 1828 and move beyond the simple red state-blue state dichotomy. We have also identified sources of partisan voting and this spatial structure in these elections and highlighted how the Big Sort argument distorts as much as it illuminates by focusing on one particular baseline and a short period in American electoral history. We also highlighted the geographic parallels between Andrew Jackson’s support base and Donald Trump’s. Moving forward, we foresee increased voting diversity in the South as the region becomes more geographically diverse.