How is Eisenhower a re-aligner?
1952 is the most monumental election in presidential election in American history.
The first cracks appear in the Solid South, with TX, FL, and VA all going for Eisenhower. The idea that Republicans could have been competitive in these Confederate states was laughable as recently as the late '40s.
1928 just called.
The national Democratic party was is disarray in 1928, and Smith's Catholic religion hurt him immensely in the mainly Baptist South. 1952 represents a profund change in the way that Southerners viewed national politics, while 1928 was just a referendum on the unusually weak Democratic nominee. The 1952-1968 era in the South was very consequential, as the GOP gains made on Eisenhower's watch largely "stuck".
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