Government
Does Foreclosure Affect How We Vote?
A new study explores the relationship between housing distress and voting shifts at the neighborhood level in Maricopa County, Arizona.
Like many others, Deirdre Pfeiffer was shocked by the results of the 2016 U.S. presidential election. A housing researcher at Arizona State University, she wondered whether the housing distress triggered by the 2008 financial crisis had a role to play in reshaping the nation’s political trajectory.
Her new study with Jake Wegmann and Alex Schafran, published online in Urban Affairs Review, takes a stab at answering that question. In it, she and her colleagues examine the link between foreclosure rates and neighborhood voting behavior in Maricopa County, Arizona. TL;DR: Yes, it did.