(October 26, 2017 at 12:01 pm)Crossless2.0 Wrote:(October 26, 2017 at 11:53 am)Court Jester Wrote: Oh... the big switch argument. Here's a history lesson.
The switch that you talk about did not really take place. Strom Thurmond is the only one who moved over to the Republican Party. So this is a historical argument hinging on one guy. The rest of the Dixiecrats... well, they were happy to be Democrats. They went right back into the Democratic Party. They were lionized by the Democrats till the day they died. One example of this is Robert Byrd, former member of the Ku Klux Klan.
I think the thrust of the 'big switch argument' concerns voting outcomes in those states, not specific party affiliation among politicians.
Deep South states that traditionally elected conservative Democrats to Congress and usually broke for Democrats in Presidential elections have been solid red for nearly forty years now.
See also: the Southern Strategy