The shift all has everything to do with “freebies” at taxpayer’s expense.
Abortion and social conservatism, and patriotism, led Southern conservatives into the Republican party as the democrats became a party of social liberalism, anti-Americanism, and government, and continued racism.
The white south almost always voted Democratic because they associated Republicans with Lincoln. The major shift began in 1964, when Johnson supported the Civil Rights Act and Goldwater opposed it.
FDR happened
I was having computer issues also and missed the part about blacks, I thought that you meant white southerners.
The switch for blacks was instant and took place in 1936.
1932 was a normal election with blacks going about 71% republican, they had always voted republican before that, but in 1936 blacks switched to about 71% democrat, and they have voted democrat ever since.
It would probably take a long explanation, possibly a very long one but for my family it was Jimmy Carter.
My Father was a Yellow Dog Democrat as was his Father before him. When I was young in the 50s and 60s, winning the Democratic primary meant you won the race. This was in the Florida Panhandle.
I think Lyndon Johnson and his regime probably made him begin to doubt but Jimmy Carter sent him over the edge. It was about that time that this area also began to have a real two party system.
Ideological party switch. The ideologies of the two main parties diverged in the 1960s. The Democrats became the party of centralized government and government spending. The Republicans became the party of small government and individual liberties.
(I know that both parties are prolific spenders, just pointing out the ideological differences)
As the parties started redefining themselves through those visions, the Republican party started becoming the party of the pro-life movement, gun rights advocates, and pro-Christian heritage. The Democrat party started becoming the party of pro-choice, gun control, and post-Christian modernism.
By the mid-80s, most of the pro-life, pro-gun, Christian Democrats in the south felt betrayed by their party and switched (see Zell Miller). Many of those who were New England Republicans are now New England Democrats for the same reason.
As for blacks switching to the Democrat party, the late 60s is where you want to look. In the early 60s, the Republicans pushed through the Civil Rights Acts (granted, Kennedy was a firm supporter, but most Democrats were not). But Johnson saw that he could essentially buy the black vote by creating a welfare state that would be self-sustaining. His ‘War on Poverty’ and ‘New Society’ initiatives poured money into the poor black communities and the vast majority of blacks switched party loyalties.
“I’m just curious, what caused such a radical shift in the solid south?”
Passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, forced integration, and school busing created the red south.
This video will catch you up to date as to what is now so just pick a subject form the video and backtrack a bit to your interests.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDtCb45Lqt0&feature=related
Nope. The Republicans were the new face of the Know Nothings. They were not anti-slavery Whigs. The Whigs that merged into the Republican party were mainly the hard core central bank/protective tariff/corporate welfare Whigs (of which Lincoln was a fervent member). A few other weird northern parties, such as the Anti-Mason party, also threw in their lot. The unifying theme of the Republican party was that it was a pro North and anti South, a purely sectional party. On every issue the Republican party aligned itself with the interests of the North. The party didn't even run any candidates in the South. The legend that the Republican party was somehow an anti-slavery party was invented after the war.
First of all, though many are horrified by this suggestion, Dems and Repub principles essentially flip-flopped c1915. Sorry, but Repubs were the statists.
Then, stubborn Southerners, unable to let go of the Civil War especially if they or their parents had any history with it, refused to recognize this fact long after. Grandchildren and so on finally starting seeing this generations later. Hence the growth toward Repubs.
May you also note how Northeast was the Repub, and has long been known as commie Dems.
There is a reason for this. They are not the same parties.
As the Democrats -- once the agrarian, free trade party, then the party of the poorer South and West -- became more urban and liberal, the outlying areas of the South started to drift to the Republicans: Virginia, Tennessee, Texas, Florida.
The Deep South was Democrat until the Second Reconstruction -- the civil rights movement and civil rights acts of the 1960s -- or even later if we're talking about Congressional delegations.
As the older Senators and Congressmen died off and their seniority was lost, Southern states moved more firmly into the Republican column for ideological reasons, the Republicans having become the party of less government.
See Alan Stang’s GOP: Red From The Start...
Semper Trvth !!!!!
*****
Before 1936 blacks voted republican, after 1932, blacks voted democrat.
The rise of the social conservative movement as the pro-life and family values elements coalesced as a political force in the late 70s/early 80s. Prior to that time, socially conservative voters were distributed more evenly between the parties. After Roe v Wade, the Republicans were able to pull southern social conservatives out of the Democrat party as the parties took sides in the culture war.
The shift came because the democrat party that supplied money to the farmers to keep them loyal became very anti-Christian. The Bible belt could not vote for what they considered evil (abortion, gay issues, etc.) they were forced to chose between God or farm subsidies and God won.
The majority of southerners are God fearing, gun toting, pro-life, and religious people. When the Democrat party became the big government, welfare party, the south changed to the GOP. It really took off with the election of Ronald Reagan.
There are lots of reasons but, first, thanks for asking, it’s a great question.
We can discuss what happened after the Civil War and you will probably get as many different responses as there are members of FreeRepublic. I can pick things up in the 50’s and bring you forward from there.
In the deep South, in particular, segregation ran rampant. You may not recall the forced school integration that occurred in Arkansas with Gov. Faubus and Alabama with then Gov. George Wallace blocking the doors of Unversity of Alabama until he was “persuaded” by the federal troops protecting the first black kids to enter the school. That was the South that I mostly grew up in.
In those days, even public water fountains were segregated into “white only” and “black only” water fountains. When I was 4 or 5, my mom and I were in a bus station and I went to get a drink from one of the fountains. A gentleman approached my mom and told her that I was drinking out of the “black only” fountain. My mom replied that it was ok, I couldn’t read!
Attitudes like that gradually eased the racial segregation of the South, but it took decades. The 60s saw some of the most violent clashes between blacks and whites, usually following a visit by Dr. Martin Luther King. And, as blacks tried integrating white neighborhoods, it gave rise to something called “white flight” in which whites moved from those neighborhoods into other all white neighborhoods. This eventually led to a Supreme Court suit that brought busing to the South in which kids were bused from all black neighborhoods to all white schools.
It was all very ugly. At the voting booth, blacks were generally charged a “poll tax” of ~$2 so they could vote in a given election. Others were forced to take literacy tests or other means that were intended to keep them from voting. This ultimately led us to the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Also, during this time, most southern states were dominated by Democrats who went out of their way to convince blacks that they were on their side. They did a good job of what I call “show ‘n tell” in presenting a facade to southern blacks of actually caring about them. History (and 20/20 hindsight) proves that the opposite was true. The Democrats gave the blacks table scraps and made them think they were getting a sumptuous meal while, at the same time, the Democrats were portraying Republicans as evil racists.
Over time, however, the demographics in the South changed a lot. More people from northern states began migrating into the South and control of the state houses eventually changed from Democrat to Republican. In addition, Hispanics from countries such as Cuba also spread across the South bringing conservative ideas with them, having experienced in Cuba the “nirvana” that the Democrats wanted. So, while more and more states changed hands to become Republican, the Democrats stepped up their rhetoric that they are the protectors of the blacks and Republicans were evil racists.
So, what has happened is that enough Republicans either migrated to the South or they saw the handwriting on the wall and switched parties. The Democrat’s “tax ‘n spend” policies were killing southern industries, many of which catered to black workers. Where the Republicans were trying to save or attract industries, the Democrats were running them off.
Today, as you have seen from the graphic, much of the South is held by Republicans. However, many southern blacks still vote hardcore Democrat, believing their rhetoric, rather than seeing the advantages the Republicans have brought right before their eyes.
But, look closely at the graphic you noted. How many of the northern Democrat strongholds today are corrupt and in financial ruin (or on the verge thereof) versus how many southern states? Ultimately, that tells you the whole story. The South after the Civil War resembled many northern Democrat strongholds today.