Wallace was a bit more complicated than that. Earlier on, at least in the ‘50s, he was a protégé of Gov. Big Jim Folsom and was considered a racial moderate. Wallace expected to carry on as such until he faced a formidable challenger in 1958 by young Attorney General John Patterson. Because Wallace was perceived as a Folsomite liberal, Patterson ran with the endorsement of racist groups and beat Wallace in the Gubernatorial primary.
Wallace was enraged that he lost the race and vowed to never be “outniggered” again and turned into a premier segregationist at that point. When that was no longer a tenable position to take (in a Democrat primary, at least), he moved back to his earlier racial stances and attempting to appeal to the Black vote.
Opportunist was more the phrase to describe Wallace. Curiously about Gov. Patterson, ostensibly claiming to be a Klan-supported reactionary, he got along famously with the Kennedys (for which the bulk of his 1959-63 term overlapped), while Wallace did not. Patterson, still alive today at almost 94, and still a Democrat, endorsed Zero for President.
“Typical democrat” is the ideal term for Wallace.