Stumbled upon this article from 1979 that was published in Illinois Issues, a policy publication that I believe is put out by UIS, although this online version is published by NIU. It's pretty cool to look back at what they were saying about the future of Illinois politics and compare it to what actually happened.
They pretty much nailed the erosion of the "suburbanization effect," being the idea that as suburbs are born, they bring with them herds of former city folk that have done very well and therefore vote Republican. Nailed it again describing the trend that is replacing the suburbanization effect, which is the idea of maturization - you're getting a lot of older/inner suburbs maturing into more urban areas, bringing with them politics as staunchly liberal as the city is. This can be seen in places like Evanston, Highland Park, Oak Park, Cicero, River Forest, etc etc.
Their analysis of ticket splitting is a bit in the opposite direction of what actually happened, but they were still smart to notice it at all. While the article discusses the willingness of suburbans to vote GOP on the Federal level but support local Dems, we've pretty clearly moreso seen the reverse in the Chicago burbs - many voters are likely to support Democrats Presidentially but are willing to support local Republicans who they see more as their "brand." Still, the article's explanation for the new ticket splitting in the burbs - the development of a more well-informed and educated population and therefore less partisan and more independent - is pretty accurate in many senses.
Enjoy.
http://www.lib.niu.edu/1979/ii791017.html
