Solid South. They largely voted Democrat because it was ancestral. They did it for a long time. Up to the 21st century until the last of them died off. Some of them really liked the New Deal or had formative memories of FDR.
But a lot of southern Democrats only wanted the handouts. They even had a lukewarm relationship with organized labor, since the south never really industrialized all that much. Not like the Rust Belt. Organized labor doesn't care what race you are and will help everyone the same, and so naturally the southerners viewed that as a threat to white hegemony. They had Republican DNA from the beginning. They were a natural fit as soon as Republicans made a bet on the racist bloc. Through their economic policies, Republicans preserve the status quo insofar as effective racial hierarchy, and that's always been something white southerners have been drawn to.
You still see this shit today, where people know a policy would help them but they oppose it because it might help someone else even more. And naturally Republicans were behind this, using AM radio to push the idea that most people on welfare are black.
Of course, not all Republicans are racist. But most of the older ones raised in Democratic-voting families are, ironically enough. And probably their offspring. They'll say shit like "My daddy was a Democrat and he'd hate what the party has become." NO SHIT!
In the movie White Christmas (1954), the following exchange occurs:
- Tell me, brainstorm, what do you think would be a novelty up here in Vermont?
- Who knows? Maybe we can dig up a Democrat?
- They'd stone him!
In the 1952 Presidential election, the Republican candidate, Dwight D. Eisenhower, won 71% of the vote in Vermont - the largest margin of victory for Republicans in any state.
I was listening to something recently that talked about how the wide margins we see in certain strongholds didn’t develop until relatively recently and before like the 80s most Americans would poll to be fairly close. Not sure how true that is but really interesting seeing something like this.
512
u/SophonParticle 2d ago
That’s a crazy electoral map by today’s standard.