Neither are exactly right as the Civil Rights votes were primarily along regional and not party lines.
Most all the Democrats in the South voted against the Civil Rights Acts, and the few Republicans that represented the South voted against the Civil Rights Acts.
In 1964, the Republican nominee for president had voted against the Civil Rights Act.
Nice spin to change reality. Chicago white Democrats, both in ‘64 and today are far more racist than white Republicans.
Chicago is not the only northern White Demilocrat Bastion like this.
Civil Rights are about freedom...freedom to support and vote for whom you want to vote for. In Northern White Democrat areas like Chicago one can only support the approved candidate. There is no freedom to support the unapproved candidate.
The same is true with education and raising your children as a civil right. In northern white Democrat controlled areas there is no civil right to education... or control of your own family vs control by the white Democrat controlled establishment.
I recently moved from Chicagoland to Atlanta. Neither white Republicans nor white Democrats in Atlanta are as racist and opposed to freedom as white Chicago Northern Democrats.
As for the Republican nominee's position on the Civil Rights Act, Goldwater had said he would vote for passage if Section II on public accommodations and Section VII on equal employment opportunity were removed. With his view reinforced by a detailed memorandum from Phoenix lawyer and future Chief Justice William Rehnquist, Goldwater felt these sections were unconstitutional, were unenforceable without a federal police force, and would lead to the creation of racial quotas and affirmative action.