Reading path

Income and class

8 chapters in reading order. A path is a way through the book that follows one question; every chapter also stands alone.

1
The income ladder
Chapter 3.3 in Part III, The party coalitions
From 2008 to 2024 the highest income bracket's Democratic share minus the lowest bracket's went from −9.1 to +5.7 points, and by 2024 the middle brackets were less Democratic than either end, but within education groups the 2024 gap includes zero.
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2
Class, church and the two axes
Chapter 7.3 in Part VII, What left and right mean
How do income, education and church attendance sort the economic and cultural dimensions?
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3
Income and the county vote
Chapter 12.3 in Part XII, Demographic axes of the vote
Do richer counties vote more Democratic once education is held constant?
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4
Wages, capital and the ZIP code vote
Chapter 12.4 in Part XII, Demographic axes of the vote
ZIP codes with more capital-gains returns swung more toward the Democrats between 2016 and 2020 and ZIP codes with more EITC returns swung less, but the capital-gains sign depends on the controls and the EITC link is near zero with poverty, college and race held fixed, and the definition of the ZIP-code college variable is unresolved.
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5
Deprivation and mobility
Chapter 13.3 in Part XIII, Hardship, health and the vote
Does present-day deprivation or childhood mobility track the vote once race is held constant?
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6
System justification
Chapter 8.7 in Part VIII, Values beneath politics
Do people with lower incomes believe in meritocracy less than those with higher incomes?
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7
Occupation and donations
Chapter 14.3 in Part XIV, The money map
How does donors' ideology vary by occupation?
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8
The geography of donations
Chapter 14.2 in Part XIV, The money map
Where do campaign dollars come from, and do county donor pools show the same education and income gradients as county votes?
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