Why are Democrats having a hard time getting blue collar white Dem voters?

[cactusmaac]

Don"t forget to factor in Roe v Wade in then there.

And the fights over gun control.

[Iangould]

I think votes for Congress offer a better indication of how popular a party is since the US runs a presidential system, not a parliamentarian one. Presidential elections are often more about how voters react to the personality of a candidate. Adlai Stevenson, George McGovern and Michael Dukakis were not candidates who would have appealed as strongly to Southern voters.

Then find a source that gives actual voting numbers not the result in terms of numbers of seats.

[Nick Soapdish]

I think votes for Congress offer a better indication of how popular a party is since the US runs a presidential system, not a parliamentarian one. Presidential elections are often more about how voters react to the personality of a candidate. Adlai Stevenson, George McGovern and Michael Dukakis were not candidates who would have appealed as strongly to Southern voters.

There's too much variability in the positions of candidates. Strom Thurmond was a Democrat in the early 60s, switched to Republican after the Civil Rights Act passed without changing any of his political positions. He stayed in office for nearly 40 years after the switch and was actually one of its more conservative Republicans for much of that time. Heck, you still have Democrats like Heath Shuler who voted for the Ryan budget, is strongly pro-NRA, pro-life, anti-gay marriage, and voted against the bailout, stimulus and health care bills. They're called Blue Dog Democrats and their numbers are falling because most of them have been from the South and are being replaced by Republicans. It's not like the South was liberal prior to the 60s and started turning conservative. It's always been fairly conservative and began joining the officially conservative party.

[Michael P]

They're called Blue Dog Democrats and their numbers are falling because most of them have been from the South and are being replaced by Republicans.

Also because they're dying off.

[Iangould]

Also because they're dying off.

Precisely.

The incumbency factor is huge in US Congressional races.

For the most part, Southern Democrats didn't get voted out. They either switched parties or retired and were replaced by Republicans.

There were also a bunch of new Congressional seats allocated to the south due to population growth. Apart from the minority-majority seats, most of those new seats went to Republicans.

[Winslow]

I may be over simplifying, but it wasn't that long ago (1950s) that Republicans were the party for affirmative action and racial justice. It was a tradition going back to Lincoln.

All that switched with Kennedy and Johnson in the 60's.

It has just taken awhile for the old guard Southen Democrats to either switch parties or die.

[mikekerrIII]

I may be over simplifying, but it wasn't that long ago (1950s) that Republicans were the party for affirmative action and racial justice. It was a tradition going back to Lincoln.

All that switched with Kennedy and Johnson in the 60's.

It has just taken awhile for the old guard Southen Democrats to either switch parties or die.

The Republican working WITH Johnson pushed the Civil rights at though, It changed with Nixon and the War uniting two separate groups of conservatives

[Iangould]

The Republican working WITH Johnson pushed the Civil rights at though, It changed with Nixon and the War uniting two separate groups of conservatives

True, although while many Republicans did so out of genuine principle others did it precisely because they knew it'd damage the Democrats in the south.

[mikekerrIII]

True, although while many Republicans did so out of genuine principle others did it precisely because they knew it'd damage the Democrats in the south.

that might require a little bit of backing-up. Can you name one?

[Tish-the-Scorpion]

that might require a little bit of backing-up. Can you name one?

actually i'm interested too...

[Iangould]

I haven't been able to find any evidence of it but considering Lee Atwater's comments and Johnson's own "We just lost the south for a generation" it seems pretty likely.

Barry Goldwater, who is now remembered as The Last Good Conservative in the mythos of the Aemrican left, ran on a platform of opposing the CRA.

[Nick Soapdish]

I haven't been able to find any evidence of it but considering Lee Atwater's comments and Johnson's own "We just lost the south for a generation" it seems pretty likely.

Barry Goldwater, who is now remembered as The Last Good Conservative in the mythos of the Aemrican left, ran on a platform of opposing the CRA.

I've never heard him called that. Heck, I think Nixon might be better thought of (with what you've described as thin justification).

[Iangould]

David Brin, who describes himself as a libertarian but is a long, long way from the current Libertarian Party on most policy issues, regularly praises Goldwater. So does celebrity atheist Ed Brayton.

[Slam_Bradley]

David Brin, who describes himself as a libertarian but is a long, long way from the current Libertarian Party on most policy issues, regularly praises Goldwater. So does celebrity atheist Ed Brayton.

Goldwater was very leery of the religious right, saying in effect that any real Christian should kick Jerry Falwell in the ass. He was critical of the continued ban on gays in the military. He endorsed an Arizona measure to legalize marijuana.

By his death he had pretty well completely distanced himself from the Republican Party because it had become so extreme he considered himself a liberal within the party.

[worstblogever]

I haven't been able to find any evidence of it but considering Lee Atwater's comments and Johnson's own "We just lost the south for a generation" it seems pretty likely.

Barry Goldwater, who is now remembered as The Last Good Conservative in the mythos of the Aemrican left, ran on a platform of opposing the CRA.

Eisenhower is the name I usually here mentioned as the last good conservative.