The population has shifted, but the political battlelines between Chicago and the "suburban 5l/2" have followed the Democratic v. Suburban population started to grow, Republican vote totals grew also. After World War II when Chicago's population began to drop and the Decades ago, the "country towns" surrounding Chicago were viewed as exclusive GOP territory. Suburban development, it is generally believed, has boosted Republican vote power in Illinois. This suburban 5 1/2 county area contains the largest number of voters in the state, and population growth is booming. LIKE ancient Gaul, Illinois is divided (politically) into three parts: Chicago, Downstate and the 51/2 suburban counties around Chicago (Cook County outside Chicago plus the surrounding counties of Lake, McHenry, Kane, DuPage and Will). Tentative publication date is November 15, 1979.] This article, along with four others co-authored by Colby and Green in Illinois Issues, will be reprinted in one chapter of Illinois Elections: Parties, Patterns, Reapportionment, Consolidation, published by Illinois Issues. But by no means is there a party turnaround in the suburban 5 1/2 counties: no Democratic presidential or gubernatorial candidate has carried any part of the area since 1964. A closer suggests a slow erosion of treaditional Republican strength caused by Democratic migrations to the suburbsand by the growing willingness of suburbanites to split tickets. Recent elections imply a surge in democratic voting in Chicago's suburba.
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