“Metropolitics”

In the months leading up to national elections, the eyes of political pollsters and pundits are typically on the United States’ suburbs. The notion that the suburbs are where elections are won or lost has become an unassailable idée fixe in contemporary politics. While there is certainly some truth to this premise, it obscures the more complex reality that “the suburbs” are in fact a remarkably diverse collection of communities with a broad range of differing strengths and weaknesses.