Explaining Welfare Benefits in the South: A Regional Analysis

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This study examines whether the contemporary South can still be considered a meaningful political region by analyzing the political distinctiveness and political cohesion of the region. Political refers to the extent to which the states in the region are different from the rest of the country in relevant political characteristics. Political cohesion refers to the extent to which the states in the region are similar to each other in relevant political characteristics. We find that for presidential and congressional voting, the South is at least as political distinctive now as it was in the 1980s, but the cohesion of the region has declined, at least for presidential voting. The ideological distinctiveness of the South, for both political elites and the mass electorate, also has not diminished since the 1980s, but again the ideological cohesion of the states has declined. Finally, the South remains considerably more conservative that the North when it comes to public policy outcomes, although on this dimension both the distinctiveness and the cohesion of the South are lower now than in the 1980s.