IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0339333.html

Political polarization on the move: Analyzing geographical mobility between counties in the U.S

Author

Listed:
  • Zhengyi Liang
  • Jaeho Cho

Abstract

Research on geographical polarization typically focuses on residential segregation by partisanship, where individuals with similar political affiliations cluster in the neighborhoods. Our study extends this line of research beyond residential spaces by investigating the influence of political leaning on geographical mobility in non-residential, activity spaces. Specifically, by analyzing human mobility patterns between counties, we explore the effects of political leaning and the strength of political leaning on the preference for politically similar locations. We find that while political leaning does not significantly impact mobility preferences, the strength of political leaning does, even after controlling for economic, demographic, and other contextual factors. Individuals traveling from counties with a strong political leaning are more likely to visit politically congruent destinations. This finding suggests that everyday travel may align with political preferences in counties with politically homogeneous populations. Our study highlights a new research avenue for research on geographical polarization by focusing on human mobility, providing unique insights into how political divisions influence spatial segregation.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhengyi Liang & Jaeho Cho, 2026. "Political polarization on the move: Analyzing geographical mobility between counties in the U.S," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 21(1), pages 1-14, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0339333
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0339333
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0339333
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0339333&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0339333?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0339333. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.