This actually reminds me of something that has bugged me for awhile now...
Why does such a large percentage of black persons vote democrat?
It goes back to FDR and the great depression. Prior to 1932 blacks, the ones who could vote anyway voted overwhelmingly Republican. This makes sense as it was Republican Lincoln who freed them. But starting in 1932 they began switching to the Democratic Party and FDR and by 1936 71% of blacks voted for FDR while only 44% of blacks at that time identified themselves with the Democratic Party. But the shift would continue. This should not be a surprise as the majority of whites also became Democrats. By the end of WWII 56% of all Americans identified with the Democratic Party vs. only 26% with the Republicans. Mainly because FDR provided hope during the depression and brought America victory in WWII. In 1948 75% of Blacks voted for Truman while only 60% of Blacks identified themselves as Democrats.
Eisenhower in 1956 became the last Republican to receive 40% of the black vote, Nixon in 1960 received 30% of the black vote and since then the average has been around 10% By 1968 85% of blacks now identified themselves as Democrats and that pretty much continues to today. In 1960 Nixon was asked to speak before an NAACP gathering and he declined, JFK accepted and by not accepting considering Nixon lost the election by only 110,000 votes, it probably cost him the presidency. But blacks noticed this. 1964 Goldwater voted against the civil rights bill and that added more insult to injury. The movement from Republican to Democrat was complete.
Blacks had been very loyal to the Republicans from the Civil War until the Great Depression probably voting in roughly the same number for them as they do now for the Democrats. Although I can find no stats on it from that time period. But from 1932 to 1964, while blacks were completing this switch, the Republicans could have gained a lot of them back as proved by IKE’s 40% of the black vote in 1956. At least it wouldn’t be monolithic. Nixon in 1960 and the nomination of Goldwater was the final nail in the coffin that sealed the loyalty of blacks to the Democrats. Republicans since has pretty well ignored the black vote and really has done nothing to attract them to their party.
This is the best I can come up with right off the bat. It leaves a lot out, but it would take a book to explain it all in detail. The thing to remember about this time period, from 1936 until 1970 the majority of all Americans identified themselves as Democrats, over 50% and the Democrats didn’t fall below the 50% mark until 1970 when they hit 48% and it has been downhill from there to today where the Democrats stand at 30% of the entire electorate. The Republicans who were at 26% at the end of WWII are at 24% today. But the key years were 1932-1964. There were years during that time period 32-64 where the Democrats controlled the House by 333-89, 313-117 and even as late as 1967 295-140. The senate was at times just as bad with the Democrats controlling it 75-17, 69-23, 66-28 and in 1967 68-32. This gives you an idea how the Democratic Party dominated politics during that time frame, with over 50% of the electorate associating themselves with the Democratic Party, it shouldn’t be a surprise.
It took Eisenhower to break a 20 year string of Democratic presidencies, Nixon did win in 1968 by a sliver over Humphrey, but the Democrats split their votes between Wallace and Humphrey back then. Much like the Republicans did back in 1912 between Roosevelt and Taft that let Wilson win.
eace
