A new analysis of congressional voting under Trump shows a divide in the way we live and travel to work--specifically, a divide between homeowners and drivers on the one hand, and renters and mass transit commuters on the other.
CityLab's Richard Florida comments:
The analysis, conducted by Patrick Adler of the University of Toronto’s School of Cities, suggests that these two key dimensions of our daily life—the kind of housing we live in and the way we commute to work—play a powerful role in America’s political divisions, more so than education (measured as the population share of college graduates), about the same as race and marital status, and only slightly less so than family structure.
Representatives from congressional districts with higher levels of homeownership were more likely to support Trump’s legislative agenda, while representatives from districts with higher levels of renting were much more likely to oppose it, an important finding when affordable housing policies are hot topics this election season.
The way we commute to work is another key dimension of Trump support. Representatives from districts where a large share of commuters drive to work alone were more likely to support Trump’s agenda, whereas reps from districts with a greater percentage of mass transit commuters are more likely to be against it. As I have argued previously, the car is increasingly a factor in America’s political divide, especially between urban and rural communities.
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