Regionalism and Political Opinion in Arkansas: An Exploratory Survey

Abstract

It has become commonplace in contemporary discussions of Arkansas politics to make certain intrastate or regional distinctions. For example, based on the evidence of the last decade's statewide and substrate elections, Republican candidates are more likely to find favor in northwest Arkansas than in southeast Arkansas. Drawing on everything from legislative positions on the Equal Rights Amendment and creation science bill to advertisements in the Arkansas Times, it is widely assumed that values and attitudes are more progressive in the densely-populated, more urban and sophisticated central region than in the sparsely-populated, more rural and provincial hills and lowlands. The considerable Black population in eastern and southern Arkansas presumably skews political opinions and judgments in one direction, while the increasing numbers of midwestern migrants into northern and western Arkansas presumably have a distinctive and dissimilar political impact.