Tim Martins, a senior majoring in political science and economics, and Tim Vercellotti, assistant professor of political science, co-authored an article on unaffiliated voters that appeared in the April 2004 issue of North Carolina DataNet.
The article, titled, “All Over the Map: The Unaffiliated Voter in North Carolina,” used Elon University Poll data from October 2003 and February 2004 to explore the demographic and attitudinal differences between unaffiliated voters and those reigstered with the Democratic and Republican parties in North Carolina.
The authors found that unaffiliated voters were more likely to be white, male, and born outside of the South. Martins and Vercellotti also found that unaffiliated voters were more likely to side with Republicans on defense matters and Democrats on domestic issues. Unaffiliated voters also held positions closer to Democrats than Republicans on the issues of gay marriage and civil unions.
The same issue of North Carolina DataNet also featured an article by Gregory Pettis, adjunct instructor of political science at Elon and a fellow at Elon’s Center for Public Opinion Polling. Pettis examined 40 years of national public opinion survey data to document declining differences in attitudes between the South and New England on social issues.
North Carolina DataNet is published quarterly by the Program on Southern Politics, Media and Public Life at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.