Studies conducted since the early 1950s have identified manual workers, low income groups, those with less education, and residents of urban areas as likely to be Democratic Party voters and those from higher income groups, the better educated, those with white-collar or professional jobs, and rural residents to be more likely to vote Republican. As a student project in a Gaston College political science class, a study was conducted in late 1980 to determine whether political party identification was changing in a three-county area in southern North Carolina due to changes in the educational level, income level, and occupational improvements of residents. Interviews conducted with 124 residents showed that party identification had not altered due to changes in socio-economic status. Most of the college graduates, those respondents with some college education, and upper- and middle-class respondents identified with the Democratic Party, while most of the Republican respondents came from the middle and lower classes and had a lower level of education. Most Democrats were in professional or white-collar occupations, while most Republicans were in blue-collar occupations. Finally, the study failed to support the assumption that rural residents identified with the Republican Party, and urban residents identified with the Democratic Party. (HB)