Republican growth in the South didn't flip on a dime. It started rumbling in 1928 (Al Smith) & 1938 (Court-packing, 2d New Deal), grew organically outward from ancestral Republican sectors of VA, TN, TX, wasn't really completed until this decade. 1st GOP POTUS to crack it? Ike.
-
-
The Deep South was also trending more R by the mid-1940s, but its wild swings from 1964-80 are (unlike the Border South states) more directly attributable to the Dixiecrat 3d party vote & the Southern swing back to Carter. In 1980, the Deep South was still less R than the USA.
Show this thread -
This, too, is an incomplete picture, however; you have to drill into downticket races like the House & state legislatures to see the long trajectory of Republicans breaking through with white Southerners, much of which was generational & tracked the region's economic progress.
Show this thread -
I've written at more length some years ago about the seductive oversimplicity of the "Southern Strategy" mythos, which simply assumes that there are no such thing as national security issues, economic issues, or non-racial social issues. http://baseballcrank.com/archives2/2012/07/politicshistory_6.php …
Show this thread -
The behavior of the various Dixiecrat politicians after 1965-68 illustrates my view of the continuities of the two parties' patterns of behavior. Dixiecrats were, as a group, pandering populists. You'd expect their behavior to track what they believed would win them votes.
Show this thread -
Some of the Dixiecrats who stayed in the D party - the guys Biden was buddy-up with in the 70s - stayed mostly unrepentant, yet won plenty of black votes. Why? Because Democrats are a coalition party. Go back & read some of the NAACP statements in that era.
Show this thread
End of conversation
New conversation -
-
-
What happened to the Carolinas?
Thanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
-
-
-
You didn’t mention SC. I consider us Deep South.
Thanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
-
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.