Who were the bigger Democratic hacks: Southern Whites or Irish Catholics?

[Mechaman]

NOTE: I'm talking elections before the mid 20th century.

A really good argument could be made for either.

For Southern Whites all one has to do is bring up the Civil War and Reconstruction and Jim Crow and how that resulted in a multi-decade era when several Southern states voted 70-90% Democratic.  They might've been swing voters pre-Civil War, but when it came time for hackery they were die harded.

For Irish Catholics all one has to do is bring up agrarianism, the nativism of the elitist protestant mechant class, and the Civil War.  And also the fact that they were hacks longer than Southern Whites, voting overwhelmingly for Democrats in the pre-Civil War Era when many Southern Whites were voting Whig and going up to Kennedy and Johnson (with a few exceptions like Harding, Coolidge, and Eisenhower).

So who were the bigger hacks?

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

I mostly think of the Irish as immigrating to the big cities. What was the relevance for them of agrarianism? Was it aspirational/nostalgic? Or were they really to a large extent rural in their immigration - contrary to stereotype?

[Mechaman]

I mostly think of the Irish as immigrating to the big cities. What was the relevance for them of agrarianism? Was it aspirational/nostalgic? Or were they really to a large extent rural in their immigration - contrary to stereotype?

Mostly sentimentalism.  Well that and general Jacksonian rhetoric/mantra about the common man.
I also forgot to mention labor unionism and bossism (a cardinal sin given how much I've mentioned it in the past).

[Mechaman]

Nobody wants to comment?

[TNF]

Weren't Irish Catholics with the Democratic Party longer? IIRC Southern whites only started voting Democratic en masse after the Civil War. Prior to the Civil War there was a substantial vote for the Whig Party, at least in the upper South.

[Mechaman]

Weren't Irish Catholics with the Democratic Party longer? IIRC Southern whites only started voting Democratic en masse after the Civil War. Prior to the Civil War there was a substantial vote for the Whig Party, at least in the upper South.

Yes, that is true (though a lot of Southern states voted unanimously for Jackson, so take that as you will).
However, if there is not an objective truth about what is the biggest landslide of the 20th century due to the differences in thinking amongst educated forumites, surely we can have a more in-depth discussion about the hacks?

[Miles]

Yikes, I'm a white Catholic Democat with Irish hertiage who lives in the south; I must be a huge Democratic hack! XD

[barfbag]

southern whites

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

 The Boston Catholics which started the Camelot and FDR revolution. Pa Kennedy Joe, in FDR prez, JFK Civil Rights, Bobby urban poverty, and Teddy HCR.

[Oldiesfreak1854]

If I had to guess, I would probably say Southern whites, but not by much.  James G. Blaine had Irish Catholic ancestry and was thought to be able to make inroads with them in 1884 (at least until one of his supporters referred to Democrats as the party of "rum, romanism, and rebellion.") 

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

If I had to guess, I would probably say Southern whites, but not by much.  James G. Blaine had Irish Catholic ancestry and was thought to be able to make inroads with them in 1884 (at least until one of his supporters referred to Democrats as the party of "rum, romanism, and rebellion.") 

The more the Republican Party changes, the more it stays the same.  It really ought to do better among minorities than it does, but then some Republicans make some remarks guaranteed to PO the very people the GOP is trying to reach out to.

[barfbag]

If I had to guess, I would probably say Southern whites, but not by much.  James G. Blaine had Irish Catholic ancestry and was thought to be able to make inroads with them in 1884 (at least until one of his supporters referred to Democrats as the party of "rum, romanism, and rebellion.") 

The more the Republican Party changes, the more it stays the same.  It really ought to do better among minorities than it does, but then some Republicans make some remarks guaranteed to PO the very people the GOP is trying to reach out to.

Race is always a very sensitive issue.