PANEL: Southern trends, cont'd

Winthrop's Dr. Adolphus Belk is analyzing statistical data on political ideology and religion in the South and how those factors are affecting change in the South.

-Despite the fact that a conservative ideology tends to dominate Southern politics, a recent Gallup poll reveals that an overwhelming majority of Democrats and a plurality of Republicans and independents are not in favor of drastic spending cuts in areas like health care and education. Another interesting poll revealed that a plurality of Southerners also believes that the government should increase its involvement in protecting the environment.

-Religion plays an important role in the lives of Southerners across racial and socioeconomic boundaries.

-Southern states are also performing poorly in the area of health, with Southern states well represented amongst the bottom states in terms of access to a healthy life and health insurance.

-The decline of productive manufacturing has lead to a society in which it's harder for lower- and middle-class workers to move up.

-The "up from the bootstraps" mentality behind Southern thinking fails to recognize government programs like GI Bill.

Governing Magazine's Richard Greene, a consultant for the Pew Center on the States, is up now, discussing the Pew Center's "Grading the States" project.

PANEL: Southern Trends

Governing Magazine's Richard Greene is moderating a panel analyzing Southern trends with UNC's Ferrel Guillory and Winthrop's Adolphus Belk.

Guillory's presentation outlined changes in electoral, demographic, and socioeconomic indicators amongst Southern states, pointing out some of the most concerning changes. Some of the interesting thoughts presented:

-The South is outpacing the rest of the nation in population growth, fueled by the influx of more affluent Whites and African Americans into growing metropolitan areas.

-One of the biggest problems in the South is the disparity in education attainment amongst different racial groups- particularly Southern Latinos, 40% of whom don't have a high school diploma, compared with 23% of blacks and 14% of whites.

-In the rest of the country, dropout rates are higher amongst blacks than whites, but in the South, high school dropout rates are a biracial problem.

-The South shifting away from blue collar jobs and towards "inside jobs."

-The idea of a purely rural South is slowly dying, creating a greater disparity betweent he metropolitan areas and the rural buffer zones that separate them.

All of these factors are coming together to create a Southern society with more affluence, but greater inequality. One key solution to helping some of the rural areas catch up to the metropolitan areas is using government resources to create a link between the two areas.

Winthrop University's Dr. Adolphus Belk is up now, discussing political ideology and religious trends.