Despite often breathless claims in the media, there is little evidence to suggest that the United States is becoming increasingly segregated along political lines. Most Americans continue to live in electorally competitive areas and where they have a great deal of exposure to members of the other party.

The recent gubernatorial election in Louisiana suggests that racial issues remain salient in the Deep South. Pre-election polls showed Republican Bobby Jindal, an Indian-American supported by George W. Bush and Governor Mike Foster, with a comfortable lead. However, Democratic Lt. Gov. Kathleen Blanco may have benefited from white voters’ discomfort with supporting a brown-skinned Indian-American. Her performance, both absolutely and relative to normal Democratic showings, correlates strongly with the support won by David Duke, the former Ku Klux Klansman, who ran as Republican in 1991. These findings also suggest that efforts to build a more racially diverse Republican party may encounter resistance from white conservatives, especially in rural areas.

An analysis of county-level data from the 2004 election shows only slight increases in geographic polarization and political segregation. In addition, there is no evidence that strongly partisan counties became more so between 2000 and 2004.

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