Partisan sorting: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|Political effect where voters sort themselves into parties that match their ideology}}

'''Partisan sorting''' or '''geographic sorting''' is an effect in politics in which voters with specific viewpoints migrate to specific areas, becoming much more concentrated in them than in the wider electorate.<ref name="Voter migration is a significant factor in the geographic sorting of the American electorate">{{cite web|last1=Tam Cho|first1=Wendy|title=Voter migration is a significant factor in the geographic sorting of the American electorate|url=http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/2013/11/19/voter-migration-is-a-significant-factor-in-the-geographic-sorting-of-the-american-electorate/|publisher=[[London School of Economics]]|accessdate=10 November 2016}}</ref><ref name="LSE blog Partisan sorting is a very recent phenomenon, and has been driven by the Southern realignment.">{{cite web|last1=Lang|first1=Corey|last2=Pearson-Merkowitz|first2=Shanna|title=Partisan sorting is a very recent phenomenon, and has been driven by the Southern realignment.|url=http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/2015/11/10/partisan-sorting-is-a-very-recent-phenomenon-and-has-been-driven-by-the-southern-realignment/|publisher=[[London School of Economics]]|accessdate=10 November 2016}}</ref><ref name="Polarized or Sorted? Just What’s Wrong With Our Politics, Anyway?">{{cite web|last1=Abramowitz|first1=Alan|last2=Fiorina|first2=Morris|title=Polarized or Sorted? Just What’s Wrong With Our Politics, Anyway?|url=http://www.the-american-interest.com/2013/03/11/polarized-or-sorted-just-whats-wrong-with-our-politics-anyway/|website=The American Interest|accessdate=10 November 2016}}</ref> This effect may create or contribute to an effect of [[Polarization (politics)|polarization]], in which separate areas become dominated by political movements much more extreme than might be expected given the "average" political views of voters.

'''Partisan sorting''' is an effect in politics in which voters sort themselves into parties that match their ideology.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Mason|first=Lilliana|date=2015|title="I Disrespectfully Agree": The Differential Effects of Partisan Sorting on Social and Issue Polarization|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24363600|journal=American Journal of Political Science|volume=59|issue=1|pages=128–145|doi=10.1111/ajps.12089 |jstor=24363600 |issn=0092-5853|doi-access=free}}</ref> Partisan sorting is distinct from [[political polarization]], which is where [[Partisan (politics)|partisans]] subscribe to increasingly extreme positions. As political scientist [[Nolan McCarty]] explains, "party sorting can account for the increased differences across partisans even if the distribution of...attitudes in the population remains unchanged or moves uniformly in one direction or the other." As an example given by McCarty, the gap between the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] and [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]] on views towards immigrants strengthening the country with hard work and talents has widened from a 2-point gap in 1994 to a 42-point gap in 2017. A reasonable explanation is that of partisan sorting: those who are pro-immigrant shifted into the Democratic party and immigration-restrictions have shifted towards the Republican party. According to McCarty, this explains the widening gap between the two parties, considering how pro-immigration viewpoints between the two surveys have increased by 35% since 1994.<ref name=":1">{{Citation|last=McCarty|first=Nolan|title=What is Political Polarization?|date=2019-12-05|url=https://whateveryoneneedstoknow.com/view/10.1093/wentk/9780190867782.001.0001/isbn-9780190867782-book-part-2|work=Polarization|publisher=Oxford University Press|language=en|doi=10.1093/wentk/9780190867782.003.0002|isbn=978-0-19-086778-2|access-date=2022-01-26|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

== Applications and forms ==

In 2008, ''[[The Economist]]'' commented that in American politics sorting was making "the culture war more bitter and politics harder."<ref name="Economist The Big Sort">{{cite web|title=The Big Sort|url=http://www.economist.com/node/11581447|website=[[The Economist]]|accessdate=10 November 2016}}</ref>

Partisan sorting is used as a potential explainer for how in recent decades the Democratic Party has become more liberal while the Republican Party has become more conservative.<ref name=":0" /> One school of thought led by [[Morris Fiorina]]<ref name=":1">{{Citation|last=McCarty|first=Nolan|title=What is Political Polarization?|date=2019-12-05|url=https://whateveryoneneedstoknow.com/view/10.1093/wentk/9780190867782.001.0001/isbn-9780190867782-book-part-2|work=Polarization|publisher=Oxford University Press|language=en|doi=10.1093/wentk/9780190867782.003.0002|isbn=978-0-19-086778-2|access-date=2022-01-26|url-access=subscription}}</ref> concludes most of the change comes from ideological partisan sorting, with polarization having little effect or being solely limited to political elites.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="Polarized or Sorted? Just What’s Wrong With Our Politics, Anyway?">{{cite web|last1=Abramowitz|first1=Alan|last2=Fiorina|first2=Morris|title=Polarized or Sorted? Just What's Wrong With Our Politics, Anyway?|url=http://www.the-american-interest.com/2013/03/11/polarized-or-sorted-just-whats-wrong-with-our-politics-anyway/|website=The American Interest|accessdate=10 November 2016}}</ref> Conversely, another school of thought led by [[Alan Abramowitz]]<ref name=":1">{{Citation|last=McCarty|first=Nolan|title=What is Political Polarization?|date=2019-12-05|url=https://whateveryoneneedstoknow.com/view/10.1093/wentk/9780190867782.001.0001/isbn-9780190867782-book-part-2|work=Polarization|publisher=Oxford University Press|language=en|doi=10.1093/wentk/9780190867782.003.0002|isbn=978-0-19-086778-2|access-date=2022-01-26|url-access=subscription}}</ref> challenges this and says sorting itself is a reflection of political polarization and that both the elites and the public have become increasingly polarized.<ref name=":0" />

A 2016form studyof findspartisan nosorting evidenceis '''geographic sorting''', which alleges that partisanspeople movedecide to more politicallymove compatibleinto communities that match their party.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|lastlast1=Mummolo|firstfirst1=Jonathan|last2=Nall|first2=Clayton|date=2016-10-13|title=Why Partisans Do Not Sort: The Constraints on Political Segregation|journal=The Journal of Politics|volume=79|issue=1 |pages=45–59|doi=10.1086/687569|s2cid=9272199 |issn=0022-3816}}</ref> Research by political scientists in 2012 found that people prefer to relocate to areas with copartisans, though it was unsure if it was a central or secondary factor.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Tam Cho|first1=Wendy K.|last2=Gimpel|first2=James G.|last3=Hui|first3=Iris S.|date=2012|title=Voter Migration and the Geographic Sorting of the American Electorate|url=http://www.journalstandfonline.uchicago.educom/doi/abs/10.10861080/68756900045608.2012.720229|journal=TheAnnals Journalof the Association of PoliticsAmerican Geographers|language=en|volume=103|issue=4|pages=000–000856–870|doi=10.10861080/68756900045608.2012.720229|s2cid=34925586 |issn=00220004-38165608|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Research conducted in 2016 concluded that political compatibility is not a significant factor in deciding where to live.<ref name=":2" />

==See also==

*[[Clustering (demographics)]]

*[[Foot voting]]

==References==

{{reflist|30em}}