Old-fashioned racism exposure damages Republican politicians but not always egalitarian appeals

Evidence

Egalitarians also successfully appealed to Whites’ consensual opposition to old-fashioned racism after David Duke’s membership in the KKK was publicized during his statewide campaigns in Louisiana in the 1990s, and in 2000, after Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott’s public nostalgia for Strom Thurmond’s 1948 segregationist campaign was revealed. Interestingly enough, Duke’s and Lott’s fellow Republicans seemed the most nervous, as if being associated with old-fashioned racism is the political kiss of death today. However, such appeals to the Creed also have sometimes failed, as with a recent Alabama miscegenation referendum and the Confederate flag controversies in South Carolina, Georgia, and Mississippi. — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 2190

Categorization

• QUESTION: Why did appeals to the Creed succeed on Duke and Lott but fail on Alabama miscegenation and the state flags — what distinguishes those cases?