Flawless Victory: I said, and it was my intent to say, that 1896 was a realignment. I was responding to someone who said it was not.
BaconBacon96: compared to 2004, in 2008 Ohio, Virginia, Florida, Iowa, New Mexico, Nevada and Colorado moved, and in 2012, they all stayed with 95% or more of their 2008 margins. 2004 was the all time peak Republican raw number, nationally and in the key states (especially Ohio, but not in Virginia).
In the New Deal Cycle, much of the FDR-Truman states in the West and Outer South moved to Eisenhower, and stayed with a losing Nixon in 1960. They became the core of the Emerging Republican Majority in 1968. In 1992, the western half of the ERM flipped away, and the ERM became dominated by the South (instead of suburbia as in 1968-1988).
Oh that makes sense.
