Arkansas 1964

[Thomas D]

Given that George Wallace won it 4 years later, How Did LBJ win it by such a wide margin?

[Antonio the Sixth]

He didn't win by that margin, if you think at the context of the election and LBJ's national score.

[Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey]

Arkansas is and has been really Democratic- even to this day all of their statewide elected officials are Democrats (while other Southern states have been more Republicanized). Historically, when it's gone Republican, other states in the South have gone Republican by larger margins. Another point to note, it was the only Southern state other than Georgia to give 60% of its vote to Carter.

[hcallega]

also not many blacks. therefore less of an impact of race based issues.

[Hash]

Given that it's the South, it's probably because the AR Democratic machine did not break with LBJ in 1964, just like the GA Democratic machine didn't break with Truman in 1948 unlike the other Deep South machines.

Machine politics and the opinions of their leaders explains a lot of Southern voting patterns 1948-1968, really.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Upland areas in the South loved LBJ and he did very well in those parts of Arkansas... but there were strong swings in the more properly Deep Southern bits.

[Thomas D]

He didn't win by that margin, if you think at the context of the election and LBJ's national score.

56%-43.5% is not that far off from the national totals.

[Antonio the Sixth]

He didn't win by that margin, if you think at the context of the election and LBJ's national score.

56%-43.5% is not that far off from the national totals.

That means a 13-points margin. Johnson won by 23 points nationally, so that means he would have lost by 10 points in a tied election.

[Bo]

AR was 5% more Republican than the national average in 1964, so LBJ's landslide victory allowed him to win AR. His landslide victory also allowed LBJ to win many other states in the South. And as Hash mentioned, the AR Democratic machine still supported LBJ in 1964 even after civil rights legislation was passed.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Carter won it by quite a bit more.