Abstract
More than 130 million Americans live in unincorporated areas, or the spaces outside the boundaries of cities, towns, and villages. Despite this, relatively little attention has been paid to whether, how, and why residents of unincorporated areas differ from their municipality-dwelling counterparts. In this dissertation, I explore the answers to these questions by establishing a new theoretical framework that rigorously defines, bounds, and partitions unincorporated space. Drawing on the near-universe of American voters, I illustrate, with unparalleled precision, where and how Americans have sorted into and out of municipalities, and show that different mechanisms drive these phenomena. Furthermore, I explore the downstream consequences of sorting phenomena for important features of political attitudes and behavior. Finally, I consider this difference temporally as well as spatially by studying municipal disincorporation, or the ability of voters to democratically erase municipalities from existence.
Committee Chair
Andrew Reeves
Committee Members
Christopher Lucas; Kiara Wyndham; Michael Olson; Taylor Carlson
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Author's Department
Political Science
Document Type
Dissertation
Date of Award
7-30-2025
Language
English (en)
DOI
https://doi.org/10.7936/12bc-2660
Author's ORCID
https://orcid.org/0009-0005-6984-2980
Recommended Citation
Wong, Jordan Duffin, "The Constellation of American Voters: Understanding Americans Who Live In and Out of American Municipalities" (2025). Arts & Sciences Theses and Dissertations. 3626.
The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.7936/12bc-2660