The GOP's neo Southern strategy

[Cave Savage]

Have any of you noticed that Democrats used to do very well in much of the South as recently as the 00s?

Bill Clinton won a bunch of redneck states, like WV and Kentucky which are now super pro Trump. There were many dem Senators in the South, even under Obama. Joe Manchin is the last Democrat grandfathered in, and he has to kiss a lot of Republican ass just to keep his seat.

Kentucky, Indiana, Missouri, and West Virginia went from reliable blue states to strongly conservative ones. Kentucky's 2 senators and governor are hardcore right wingers. Pence was recently the governor of Indiana.

I suspect that the GOP was able to lure in a bunch of white, working class, non religious voters in the South over the years. Was it simply through dog whistle race and cultural issues?

 

[Json]

Aren’t those considered Midwestern states?

I suspect a bunch of liberals left those states in the 90s -00 leaving a more right wing state of mind.

Now you have them coming back to conservative states but only in major cities like Austin or OKC. But that’s not enough to over the majority of the state

 

[Oceanicpuppy]

Have any of you noticed that Democrats used to do very well in much of the South as recently as the 00s?

Bill Clinton won a bunch of redneck states, like WV and Kentucky which are now super pro Trump. There were many dem Senators in the South, even under Obama. Joe Manchin is the last Democrat grandfathered in, and he has to kiss a lot of Republican ass just to keep his seat.

Kentucky, Indiana, Missouri, and West Virginia went from reliable blue states to strongly conservative ones. Kentucky's 2 senators and governor are hardcore right wingers. Pence was recently the governor of Indiana.

I suspect that the GOP was able to lure in a bunch of white, working class, non religious voters in the South over the years. Was it simply through dog whistle race and cultural issues?

Democrats have become the party of non whites, young hipsters and urban whites.

Working class rural and suburban Whites aren't the focus of the party anymore.

Black voters were the focus during the Obama era and Dems kicked them ( whites) to the curb.

In response to The Obama presidency and the raise of the tea party, the writings were on the wall.

Trump just brought out what was already bubbling.

Dems are now focused on Hispanics for the future of the party.

Also whites weren't comfortable with evolving demographics.

 

[Oceanicpuppy]

If you think about new issues like immigration, abortion, civil rights, LGBT rights etc.

These old school white Dems were never on board with this. They haven't changed the party and the issues have changed.

 

[Oceanicpuppy]

This Latino group is funded by the Koch brothers.

GOP silently hitting the ground running in the Hispanic community ?

 

[Cave Savage]

Aren’t those considered Midwestern states?

I suspect a bunch of liberals left those states in the 90s -00 leaving a more right wing state of mind.

Now you have them coming back to conservative states but only in major cities like Austin or OKC. But that’s not enough to over the majority of the state

Indiana is Midwestern, I would argue Missouri can be both. The other states in question are definitely Southern

The only region Obama did worse than John Kerry did was in the white, rural Soutb

Democrats have become the party of non whites, young hipsters and urban whites.

Working class rural and suburban Whites aren't the focus of the party anymore.

Black voters were the focus during the Obama era and Dems kicked them ( whites) to the curb.

In response to The Obama presidency and the raise of the tea party, the writings were on the wall.

Trump just brought out what was already bubbling.

Dems are now focused on Hispanics for the future of the party.

Also whites weren't comfortable with evolving demographics.

That's true. But I think that by the Obama era, a lot of those rednecks had already abandoned the party once they felt it was the minority party. A lot of them may have even left earlier, considering Al Gore and John Kerry failed to win most of those states.

 

[Professor Emeritus]

Up until the 1990s, there was more overlap between the parties. You had a lot of liberal Republicans in the NE and a lot of conservative Democrats in the South, to the point that there were actually some Republicans more liberal than some Democrats and vice-versa. There used to be more bipartisan legislature, people across parties working together and such.

I'm sure there were multiple factors, but one thing that changed was Newt Gingrich came in and led a movement to make the parties much more poisonous to each other, a more aggressive, nasty brand of politics. He was working to taint the name of the Democratic party so much that no one who considered themselves a Republican would dare vote for them. So the conservative Dems in office, their political futures going up in smoke, either switched parties or left politics. In the process, a lot of those liberal NE Republicans either got fed up and left the Republican party, or themselves got kicked out of office by Dems who wouldn't tolerate Republicans associated with Newt and his ilk anymore.

I feel like I saw the last really liberal Republicans and really conservative Democrats starting to leave around the late 2000s. Now you're seeing even the moderates on both sides starting to drop out or radicalize.

This article gets into exactly what Newt did to drive a more partisan politics: The Man Who Broke Politics

 

[BoBurnz]

Up until the 1990s, there was more overlap between the parties. You had a lot of liberal Republicans in the NE and a lot of conservative Democrats in the South, to the point that there were actually some Republicans more liberal than some Democrats and vice-versa. There used to be more bipartisan legislature, people across parties working together and such.

I'm sure there were multiple factors, but one thing that changed was Newt Gingrich came in and led a movement to make the parties much more poisonous to each other, a more aggressive, nasty brand of politics. He was working to taint the name of the Democratic party so much that no one who considered themselves a Republican would dare vote for them. So the conservative Dems in office, their political futures going up in smoke, either switched parties or left politics. In the process, a lot of those liberal NE Republicans either got fed up and left the Republican party, or themselves got kicked out of office by Dems who wouldn't tolerate Republicans associated with Newt and his ilk anymore.

I feel like I saw the last really liberal Republicans and really conservative Democrats starting to leave around the late 2000s. Now you're seeing even the moderates on both sides starting to drop out or radicalize.

This article gets into exactly what Newt did to drive a more partisan politics: The Man Who Broke Politics

Great article.

 

[StatUS]

The ramp up of conservative talk radio in the 90s building towards the Fox News takeover and Bush stealing the election are your answer.

There's also the misdiagnosis of third way politics by ignorant whites. Instead of wanting a better government they fall in love with right wing facism.