Red State, Blue State, Rich State, Poor State

Andrew Gelman talked about his book, Red State, Blue State, Rich State, Poor State: Why Americans Vote the Way They Do (Princeton University Press, August 10, 2008), which examines the common thinking about the American electorate and contends that several long held beliefs are incorrect. Mr. Gelman argues that the political fissure in the United States does not lie between Blue America and Red America but rather between affluent Republicans and Democrats. He also contends that religion is no more divisive in the United States than amongst European voters and that church attendance is a greater predictor of voting among the rich than the poor. Following his remarks, Professor Gelman responded to questions from audience members.

Andrew Gelman is a statistics and political science professor at Columbia University. He is the author of several books, including Teaching Statistics: A Bag of Tricks. Mr. Gelman was the recipient of the 2003 Presidents' Award presented to the best stat close