re: Why Did the Democratic South Become Republican?

But sure, nothing changed.

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But sure, nothing changed

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That's fricking stupid...the R counterpoint is actually:

It's stupid to be mad about statues and memorials that have been there a hundred years.

Do what you want with them, nazi shitheads

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Reagan nearly lost every single southern state in the 1980 election.

Mississippi, alabama, arkansas, tennesee, and south carolina were all withni 1 percentage point.

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He also employed Lee Atwater, who was a key torch carrier of the Southern Strategy.

Who had this to say:

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Atwater: As to the whole Southern strategy that Harry Dent and others put together in 1968, opposition to the Voting Rights Act would have been a central part of keeping the South. Now [Reagan] doesn't have to do that. All you have to do to keep the South is for Reagan to run in place on the issues he's campaigned on since 1964 ... and that's fiscal conservatism, balancing the budget, cut taxes, you know, the whole cluster...

Questioner: But the fact is, isn't it, that Reagan does get to the Wallace voter and to the racist side of the Wallace voter by doing away with legal services, by cutting down on food stamps?

Atwater: You start out in 1954 by saying, "****, ****, ****." By 1968 you can't say "****" — that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states' rights and all that stuff. You're getting so abstract now [that] you're talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you're talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is [that] blacks get hurt worse than whites. And subconsciously maybe that is part of it. I'm not saying that. But I'm saying that if it is getting that abstract, and that coded, that we are doing away with the racial problem one way or the other. You follow me — because obviously sitting around saying, "We want to cut this," is much more abstract than even the busing thing, and a hell of a lot more abstract than "****, ****."

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Was a key cog in the perpetuation of the welfare queen stereotype, and embraced the Willie Horton tactic because of its response to southerners due to its implicit racism.

Atwater, that got his break running the campaign of Strom Thurmond, a major purveyor of implicit racial campaigning, who called the strategies he developed their some of his biggest influences that he carried with him.

The reason some prominent Republicans and groups took the angle of racism, is because that was the dividing line of the post-Civil Rights white democrats and their party leadership. Poor whites in the south overwhelmingly sided with Democrats on class and economic issues, but began to overwhelmingly disagree with them on social issues. If Republicans could make the focus more on race and social issues, they could begin to chip away at democrats, if they tried to win solely on class economics, they would lose. Atwater deeply held that belief.

BUT, it was hardly black and white(no pun intended). Dixiecrats still remained in the Democratic party for some time. Especially in white working class areas. Appeals to racism still existed as a niche to appeal to southerners in the Democratic party in predominately white areas. But the idea that appeals to racism didn't play a role in shifting the party allegiances of white voters is ridiculous. As the Democratic party became dominant in black communities in the south, as it became more prominent in favoring social justice issues, it steadily lost the white south.

And lets just put this into perspective, the last Democrat to win the majority of white voters was Lyndon Johnson in 1964. Since the Civil Rights Act, no Democrat has won the majority of white voters. The video leaves that out.

That isn't to say all southern Republicans are racist, which I am sure some will reflexively assume. It is to say that when you look at the objective facts, at what strategies the historical record shows us were in play by Republicans, it is undeniable that race politics was an effective mobilizer in pushing southern dixiecrats into the Republican party.

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That isn't to say all southern Republicans are racist, which I am sure some will reflexively assume. It is to say that when you look at the objective facts, at what strategies the historical record shows us were in play by Republicans, it is undeniable that race politics was an effective mobilizer in pushing southern dixiecrats into the Republican party.

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It was certainly a part, but the "solid democratic south" was showing signs of cracking before nixon and atwater and the 1960s. Eisenhower made big gains in the south, and actually won Louisiana and the upper south.

Also, I think you'd enjoy the fact that tim scott won 80% of white voters last year in south carolina.

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It was certainly a part, but the "solid democratic south" was showing signs of cracking before nixon and atwater and the 1960s. Eisenhower made big gains in the south, and actually won Louisiana and the upper south.

Also, I think you'd enjoy the fact that tim scott won 80% of white voters last year in south carolina.

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Well like I said earlier, race is not going to be the only causality of things. But to deny its prominence, especially with major presidential candidates starting with Goldwater, is to ignore history. Goldwater who won the south(and lost much else) by breaking with some of his earlier rhetoric and mirroring the states rights language of pro-segregationist Dixiecrats and taking a stand against the Civil Rights Act.

And I also want to note, it wasn't like the Civil Rights Act was this magical moment. Trends had been developing for some time. But that was a major watershed moment with white people. But not just in the south. Dixiecrats began to feel disillusioned with the party after desegregating the army, then further when Democrats offered a plank of the party to Civil Rights activists, and the Strom Thurmond saga, as the link I posted points out. This too signals the way race mattered to white voters in the south. Yes, democrats still had pockets in the department south, mostly in white communities where the issue was class and appeals to racism still carried on.

With that said, Eisenhower also was very vocal in signaling his dissatisfaction for Brown V. Board of Education and dragged his feet on implementation. He gave a cold shoulder to Civil Rights leaders and had a deference to southern white supremacists. With that said he was a pretty good tight rope walker on that issue, as he also governed in a fashion that made him one of the better civil rights presidents post reconstruction. All in the context of some of those central shifts occurring with the Democratic party. So in context it is easy to see why Eisenhower had appeals on both sides.

funny, I bet there are atleast 3 "But the blacks!!!" threads started on this board between today and the end of tomorrow by you "non racist republicans"

The Republican party has been the party of the wealthy for a pretty long time.

So its not really a surprise that wealthy, white suburbs, which is in part a product of white flight, went heavily to the guy that stoked racial divisions and represented their economic interests.

That a southern boy, who poorer white voters still slightly favored the Democrats for economic reasons, which is where those areas favored democrats, but favor Republicans on race issues, and had their pocket of dixiecrat districts, went to Carter. And the other southern boy Clinton in 92.

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Reagan nearly lost every single southern state in the 1980 election.

Mississippi, alabama, arkansas, tennesee, and south carolina were all withni 1 percentage point.

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You are almost right. Two of those were within 1%. keep in mind we only count electoral votes. but we know how that story goes...

Mississippi - Reagan by 1.33%

Alabama - Reagan by 1.3%

Arkansas - Reagan by 0.91%

Tennessee - Reagan by 0.29%

South Carolina - Reagan by 1.53%

Here are the rest:

Louisiana - Reagan by 5%

Georgia - Carter won home state by 14.81%

Florida - Reagan won by 17.02%

Kentucky - Reagan by 1.46%

North Carolina - Reagan by 2.12%

Virginia - Reagan by 12.72%

Texas - Reagan by 13.86%

Oklahoma - Reagan by 25.56%

Yep. it was close.

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Why Did the Democratic South Become Republican?

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Short answer: Because the parties changed and Dixiecrats have been dying out.

Civil rights act. LBJ said it would happen.