Split-level realignment: Working and middle social class voting behavior in the South and non-South

Analyzing changes in the political party system has been approached in numerous forms. This paper examines change in state level party strength and political behavior at the individual level. By analyzing state level partisan balance shifts between 1952-1988, states cluster into groups based on their aggregate electoral partisan strength. Utilizing the methodology of Earl and Merle Black (1987) and by compiling data from the University of Michigan's Survey Research Center-Center for Political Studies (SRC-CPS), political attitudes of socio-economic groups are compared between states which show trends of Republicanism versus those favoring a Democratic party trend. These comparisons shed light on current realignment theory, the dismantling of the New Deal coalition, and the forming of new coalitions.