Racially conservative whites’ defection drove the Southern realignment

Evidence

Relative to 1962, white Southerners against integration are nine percentage points less likely to identify as Democrats in 1964-1980, compared to their non-Southern counterparts. Whereas the Gallup analysis showed non-Southern whites with conservative racial views only slightly moving away from the party, the effect in the ANES is larger and achieves significance. These patterns of coefficients hold when we extend the post-period to 2000 (cols. 3 and 4) or end it in 1970 (cols. 5 and 6). — Ilyana Kuziemko and Ebonya Washington, Why Did the Democrats Lose the South?…, 1327 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

By the late 1960s, even fundamentalist leaders like Billy James Hargis and John R. Rice thought it best to distance themselves from the overt racism of a man like Wallace, and Nixon’s “Southern strategy” helped draw former segregationists into the Republican Party. With Democratic administrations overseeing federally mandated desegregation efforts, and with Johnson signing the Civil Rights Act into law, the Republican Party’s defense of “states’ rights” appealed to southern whites. — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 105 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Southern dealignment coincides with massive economic catch-up in the region—from 1940 to 1980, per capita income in the South rose from 60 to 89 percent of the U.S. average—which would predict a movement away from the more redistributive party. — Ilyana Kuziemko and Ebonya Washington, Why Did the Democrats Lose the South?…, 43 (#contradicts, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Civil-rights-era policy shifts drove southern whites into the Republican Party — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne: How White…, 105; Neoconservatism began as a rightward racial realignment breaking with the civil rights movement — Michael Omi, Howard Winant, Racial Formation in the United States, 56; Racially conservative white Southerners abandoned Democratic identification after 1964. — Ilyana Kuziemko and Ebonya Washington, Why Did the Democrats Lose the South?…, 1327 (+18 more)

Related

• Racially conservative white Southerners abandoned Democratic identification after 1964. (similarity 0.91)
• A Democratic black voting bloc slowed Southern whites’ natural dealignment from the Democratic Party. (similarity 0.90)
• Southern economic catch-up could independently explain realignment away from Democrats. (similarity 0.90)
• The full Southern Democratic decline is attributable to conservative-race defection alone (similarity 0.90)
• Racially conservative Southern whites defecting explains all of the 1958-1980 Democratic decline (similarity 0.90)
• The racial-views mechanism nearly fully accounts for Southern whites’ partisan shift. (similarity 0.89)
• Democratic identification among Southern whites fell a full 17 percentage points (similarity 0.89)
• Southern whites opposed to integration were staunchly Democratic before 1964. (similarity 0.89)
• Historians still dispute whether race or economics drove white Southern exit from the Democrats. (similarity 0.88)
• Conservative racial views predicted Democratic identity among Southern whites only before 1963 (similarity 0.87)
• The civil rights movement’s Democratic adoption made southern whites available to Republican appeals. (similarity 0.87)
• Civil rights, not other issue concerns, drove Southern whites’ falling approval of Kennedy (similarity 0.86)
• Southern economic development and party liberalization did not cause the exodus (similarity 0.85)
• Civil-rights-era policy shifts drove southern whites into the Republican Party (similarity 0.85)
• Southern partisan change included independent and third-party moves, not only Republican shifts. (similarity 0.85)

Broader Connections

• Civil-rights-era policy shifts drove southern whites into the Republican Party #corroborates (0.95) — Kristin Kobes Du Mez, Jesus and John Wayne, 105
• Racially conservative white Southerners abandoned Democratic identification after 1964. #corroborates (0.95) — Ilyana Kuziemko and Ebonya Washington, Why Did the Democrats Lose the South?…, 1327
• Neoconservatism began as a rightward racial realignment breaking with the civil rights movement #corroborates (0.85) — Michael Omi, Howard Winant, Racial Formation in the United States, 56
• Southern Strategy repositioned white supremacy as mainstream politics #expands (0.85) — Michael Omi, Howard Winant, Racial Formation in the United States, 186
• Southern economic catch-up could independently explain realignment away from Democrats. #contradicts (0.85) — Ilyana Kuziemko and Ebonya Washington, Why Did the Democrats Lose the South?…, 43
• The racial-views mechanism nearly fully accounts for Southern whites’ partisan shift. #corroborates (0.80) — Ilyana Kuziemko and Ebonya Washington, Why Did the Democrats Lose the South?…, 462
• A Democratic black voting bloc slowed Southern whites’ natural dealignment from the Democratic Party. #qualifies (0.75) — Ilyana Kuziemko and Ebonya Washington, Why Did the Democrats Lose the South?…, 186
• New Deal legislation racially discriminated because it needed southern Democratic votes. #responds-to (0.70) — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 868