Free Article Review On Income And Location:

The United States is finally climbing out of the economic slump that it found itself in in the early 2000s. However, the changing economy has not meant success for everyone in the United States-- there are definite pockets of wealth, while the poorer areas of the country continue to take an economic hit. In the article “In Climbing Income Ladder, Location Matters” New York Times reporter David Leonhardt examines the issues facing Americans of different social classes, looking into the ways in which social class plays a part in the overall success or failure of an individual in the current economy.
It is fair to extrapolate from this that children in coastal urban centers like Seattle, Boston, New York, and so on are more likely to succeed because they are provided with more opportunities; in the short run, their parents are also more likely to be of a liberal bent, indicating that the next year’s elections will turn to the democratic side in these locations. This is not surprising, however-- coastal states do tend, by and large, to vote more liberally than states in the south and midwest.
However, in the long run, this also means that children from these areas are more likely to obtain an education past high school; they are more likely to be successful overall in life, and the higher education level an individual has, the more likely he or she is to vote liberally. Every generation tends to vote more liberally than their parents; barring some kind of catastrophe, the next generation of children will probably continue this trend.
The unfortunate part of this study is that it indicates that income mobility is closely linked to education level. States with high levels of income mobility are those states with good school systems, which place emphasis on education and allot money to educational programs for children of all ages. It seems that children in states that do not have well-established school systems are suffering because of the lack of support system offered by the schools in their area. Again, extrapolating from the fact that the more highly-educated a person is, these individuals are likely to vote much more moderately or conservatively than their peers that grew up in coastal cities with more income mobility.
The problem with many communities that do not experience high levels of income mobility is that they have poor support systems in place for their citizens, including poor public transportation systems. When people have difficulty getting to or finding work, they have a difficult time saving money and investing in their communities, perpetuating the problem of poor income mobility. Downtrodden communities in the south and midwest often vote conservatively, and more conservatively in times of economic crisis. For this reason, it should be expected to see these communities continue to vote conservatively in the years to come.