What are we defining as 'Southern whites'? Like many white Democrats in NC, I don't consider myself Southern.
I think for the purposes of this article as well as any discussion on how a particular state or an area in the south votes, if you live there and vote there then you are "Southern." Obviously being "culturally Southern" and living in the South don't necessarily go hand in hand. The article even points out that there are pockets of the urban/academic South where Democrats get a "normal" amount of white support. However, I think the main point is that the South is still very much divided by racial politics and those white Dem enclaves are more of an exception to the rule.
For the record, in a small follow-up, the author says the article was really about the Deep South.
That makes more sense because even at the state level, NC (and VA and FL) have reasonable white Democratic numbers.
