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5 February 2006

CAPS Seminar--Larry Bartels, "What's the Matter with What's the Matter with Kansas?"

On Friday, February 3, Larry Bartels presented his paper, "What's the Matter with What's the Matter with Kansas" for the Center for American Political Studies. Franks in the original work "What's the Matter with Kansas" argues that lower class voters in states like Kansas ignore their economic interests and support the Republican Party because they believe that Republicans are closer to them on important social and moral issues. Moreover, the Democratic Party fails to assert their advantage on economic issues to these working- and lower-class voters. Bartels presented data from the past 50 years of the American National Election Studies that shows that whites without a college degree are more likely to support the Republican Party. However, among whites without college degrees, the voters in the lower-third of the income distribution are more likely to be Democratic supporters, a finding that directly contradicts Franks's arguments. Bartels also finds that social or cultural issues such as abortion or women's rights play less of a role in determining vote choice than do beliefs about government spending.


The audience response was overwhelmingly positive. Most of the discussion centered around what Bartels's analysis meant for the prospects of the Democratic Party in the next election. However, the audience also pressed Bartels to discuss the implications of the analysis and some alternative explanations for recent Republican success.

Posted by Traci Burch at February 5, 2006 10:17 AM