How the Heartland Went Red

Offering a comparative study of three White blue-collar Midwestern cities in the run-up to the 2020 election, Ternullo shows the ways that local contexts have sped up or slowed down White voters' shift to the right. One of these cities has voted overwhelmingly Republican for decades; one swung to the right in 2016 but remains closely divided between Republicans and Democrats; and one, defying current trends, remains reliably Democratic. Through extensive interviews, Ternullo traces the structural and organizational dimensions of place that frame residents' perceptions of political and economic developments. These place-based conditions-including the ways that local leaders define their cities' challenges-help prioritize residents' social identities, connecting them to one party over another. Despite elite polarization, fragmented media, and the nationalization of American politics, Ternullo argues, the importance of place persists-as one of many factors informing partisanship, but as a particularly important one among cross-pressured voters whose loyalties are contested.