Abstract
We briefly trace the claim that a set of counties across the three states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin in large part determined the outcome of the 2016 presidential election. Rather than the demographic characteristics of the Census as such it is the meaning that these categories (young/old, Black/White, male/female, and so on) take on in particular places in which people’s lives are grounded that drives electoral outcomes. Given that the counties in question were ones in which Obama had performed well but which Trump won in 2016 and this shift was put down to his appeal to those “left behind” in the post-2008 economy, we focus on whether or not this localized appeal can be expected to continue in 2020.
About the authors
John Agnew is Distinguished Professor of Geography at UCLA. His research and teaching interests are in comparative electoral geography, the geopolitics of the world economy, and globalization and sovereignty. His most recent books are (as co-editor) Handbook of the Geographies of Power (2018) and (as co-author) Mapping Populism: Taking Politics to the People (2019).
Michael Shin is Professor of Geography at UCLA. He specializes in comparative electoral geography, GIS, and cartography. His most recent book (as co-author) is Mapping Populism: Taking Politics to the People (2019).
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