South Carolina: 1952 and 1956

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

When SC was the most Democratic State, it had very low turnout compared to just eight years later in 1952.

Most of the South was this way and beginning in 1952 you had a massive surge in turnout and voter participation. This occurred at the same time as the revival of two party competition and the post above about foreign policy really does a good job illustrating that issue. Also Wazza talked about the GOP support being concentrated in low country.

If you look at the 1960 map, you see the lowland versus upland divide quite clearly:

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

When SC was the most Democratic State, it had very low turnout compared to just eight years later in 1952.

Most of the South was this way and beginning in 1952 you had a massive surge in turnout and voter participation. This occurred at the same time as the revival of two party competition and the post above about foreign policy really does a good job illustrating that issue. Also Wazza talked about the GOP support being concentrated in low country.

If you look at the 1960 map, you see the lowland versus upland divide quite clearly:

Wasn't turn out in several southern states back in the day like low double digit percentages?

These states had are grouped by electoral vote and are thus roughly similar in size and yet you see a massive difference in turnout.

1944:
13   
WI   Thomas Dewey   John Bricker   Republican   674,532   50.37%   12
   Franklin Roosevelt   Harry Truman   Democrat   650,413   48.57%

1.3 Million


GA   Franklin Roosevelt   Harry Truman   Democrat   268,187   81.74%   12
   Thomas Dewey   John Bricker   Republican   59,880   18.25%   0

320,000


10
IA   Thomas Dewey   John Bricker   Republican   547,267   51.99%   10
   Franklin Roosevelt   Harry Truman   Democrat   499,876   47.49%   0

1 million

LA   Franklin Roosevelt   Harry Truman   Democrat   281,564   80.59%   10
   Thomas Dewey   John Bricker   Republican   67,750   19.39%   0

350,000


8
KS        Thomas Dewey   John Bricker   Republican   442,096   60.25%   8
   Franklin Roosevelt   Harry Truman   Democrat   287,458   39.18%   0

700,000

SC   Franklin Roosevelt   Harry Truman   Democrat   90,601   87.64%   8
   No Candidate   -   Southern Dem.   7,799   7.54%   0
   Thomas Dewey   John Bricker   Republican   4,610   4.46%   0
   Claude Watson   Andrew Johnson   Prohibition   365   0.35%   0

100,000

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

In 1952, Eisenhower ran as an Independent in South Carolina, while in 1956 he ran as a Republican. For 1952 "From the time Eisenhower announced he would run on an independent slate nominated by the many dissident Democrats, he gained substantial support, most especially in the small black-majority rural counties where only whites voted." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1952_United_States_presidential_election_in_South_Carolina#Vote In 1956, a Dixiecrat electors slate actually beat Eisenhower for second place. So the Republican brand in the 1950s may have still been a significant liability in South Carolina. As for SC being close in 1960, that was could be due to Kennedy's Catholicism, as well as a general trend away from Democrats there.

Its an uneven process to be sure, but low country/Cities/suburbs were the GOP base in the region by 1968, at least those such areas that weren't flipped b/c of the increase in African American Registration and Voting.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

This is also relevant to the turnout discussion, its a snippet from a longer post in the thread last month comparing the GOP to the mid 20th century Southern Dems:

Basically, that Conservatives (actual conservatives and not populists of varying degrees) among Democrats would be typically found among black belt whites. This makes sense when you think about it for several reasons.

1. These areas were heavily stratified economically
2. There weren't many poor whites in these areas
3. Blacks couldn't vote
4. Many poor whites that were there couldn't vote either.

This means that districts representing a relatively equal space (though not a given though pre-OMOV) in terms of population, but would in effect function as rotten boroughs (like those of English fame) for the Southern Aristocracy. Kevin Phillips lists three examples in Alabama on page 223 of "The Emerging Republican Majority"

               Whites          Blacks            WR                BR
Macon     4,777            25,784            3,016           1,100
Lowndes  3214             14804            2306             0  
Wilcox      4912              18564           3183              0