- Joined
- Oct 5, 2015
- Messages
- 3,955
- Reaction score
- 889
- Location
- North East USA
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Slightly Liberal
The Republican Party has become nationally what the Democrat Party was in the South before the civil rights legislation was signed. It has become the party of the white majority at all income groups.
It would have been nice for the Democrats if after the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was signed racially moderate whites in the South continued to vote Democrat, and were joined by the large black populations in Southern states to retain Democratic majorities in Southern states. It seems that there were not enough racially moderate whites in the South.
In The Emerging Republican Majority, published in 1969 Kevin Phillips wrote that when the black population in a state is less than ten percent, it does not effect white voting behavior. When the black population exceeds ten percent whites get nervous. When the black population approaches fifty percent the control of those blacks becomes the single most important issue that the vast majority of whites agree on.
This is why a growing percentage of non whites in the population may not help the Democrats. It may cause more whites to vote like Southern whites.
It would have been nice for the Democrats if after the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was signed racially moderate whites in the South continued to vote Democrat, and were joined by the large black populations in Southern states to retain Democratic majorities in Southern states. It seems that there were not enough racially moderate whites in the South.
In The Emerging Republican Majority, published in 1969 Kevin Phillips wrote that when the black population in a state is less than ten percent, it does not effect white voting behavior. When the black population exceeds ten percent whites get nervous. When the black population approaches fifty percent the control of those blacks becomes the single most important issue that the vast majority of whites agree on.
This is why a growing percentage of non whites in the population may not help the Democrats. It may cause more whites to vote like Southern whites.