You’ve got to remember that in 76, 80 and 84, we were in a totally different enviroment vis a vis government gone wild and the trampling of liberties.
That’s true, but in terms of reviewing the history of the modern morals voter, it’s a reaction to the Nixonian era, but not the “silent majority” of Nixon, but rather the “moral majority” of Jerry Falwell and Ronald Reagan who really brought it into mainstream republicanism.
During the FDR, Truman, Eisenhower era if a politician had come on the scene touting gay marriage and abortion, they wouldn’t have just hustled him out of the room. They’d have tarred and feathered in copious quantities.