Why is Arkansas less conservative than other southern states?
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  Why is Arkansas less conservative than other southern states?
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Author Topic: Why is Arkansas less conservative than other southern states?  (Read 7345 times)
Aizen
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« on: March 28, 2007, 06:23:30 PM »

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Alcon
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« Reply #1 on: March 28, 2007, 06:25:03 PM »

It's more of a border state, and still has a strong base of economic liberalism.  It's also not quite the same stronghold of evangelical conservatism that other places are.

One of the states I know the least about, though.
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nclib
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« Reply #2 on: March 28, 2007, 07:30:39 PM »

I don't really think that Arkansas is much less socially conservative than other Southern states outside the Deep South. Also, unlike Tenn., N.C., and Va., it doesn't have any liberal pockets. The fact that it is less Republican on the national level probably has more to do with economic liberalism and partisan politics.
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tarheel-leftist85
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« Reply #3 on: March 28, 2007, 07:34:54 PM »

I would say it's less conservative b/c of a long tradition of economic liberalism as well.  I would say it's less Republican than other southern states b/c the republican surge in the south began in ubran areas and Arkansas doesn't a very large Republican anchor (the largest, I guess, would be the Fayetteville Area) comparable to ATL suburbs, and all the burbs in SC.  Still probably the most rural of Southern states (Mississippi might be close, but they don't have the same legacy on race as Arkansas).
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memphis
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« Reply #4 on: March 28, 2007, 09:15:17 PM »

Arkansas is quite conservative. It's the home of Wal-Mart, after all. It is more Democratic than the rest of the South, but this does not mean less conservative. It's comparable to Oklahoma's "Little Dixie" West and Middle Tennessee and West Viriginia. Party affiliation is a funny thing sometimes. 
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Gustaf
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« Reply #5 on: March 29, 2007, 11:04:12 AM »

Partisanship is probably one of the most important aspects of Arkansas. It seems to me that it differs from the Deep South in that it has fewer blacks and thus less obsession with race issues and from the Peripheral South in that it doesn't have as big a suburban electorate.

Historically, it seems like there is a very strong partisan loyalty in Arkansas. Look at 1928 for instance. Smith basically collapsed all over the South, compared to Davis, but not in Arkansas. His share of the vote was less than a point below Davis. If you look at 1948 when Thurmond did well in the South Truman still got more than 60% in Arkansas. In the following elections it was closer of course, but neither Eisenhower, nor Nixon nor Goldwater made it really close. The picture becomes a little more mixed after that, but it's still evident that Arkansas retained a strong loyalty (Carter topped 60% in 1976 for instance)
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Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers
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« Reply #6 on: March 29, 2007, 12:43:38 PM »

It is right next to MO and they share media markerts and alot of people go between the two states.
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minionofmidas
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« Reply #7 on: March 30, 2007, 07:06:20 AM »

I don't really think that Arkansas is much less socially conservative than other Southern states outside the Deep South. Also, unlike Tenn., N.C., and Va., it doesn't have any liberal pockets. The fact that it is less Republican on the national level probably has more to do with economic liberalism and partisan politics.
The fact that there aren't any real liberal pockets - and the fact that there's a sizeable very Republican pocket - have a lot do with it, I suppose. Helps in painting the Reps as the party of wackos.

Yeah, it's pretty weird. Even in 2004, Dems took about 30% of the self-described born again Christian vote in the state. Elsewhere in the US, it's closer 10%, sometimes 15% (according to exit polls. In some states, the question is for White Conservative Protestant instead. Sorry, don't have a link).
I suppose that right at the time when most of the remaining social conservatives deserted the Democratic Party in the second half of the 90s, the US happened to have an Arkansas president who remained insanely popular in his homestate, even with social conservatives, and that by the time he was out of office, the realignment had essentially ended.

But Gustaf's point about a small suburban population is also important.
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minionofmidas
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« Reply #8 on: April 01, 2007, 03:41:28 PM »

Hmmm... checking the state's population developments over the past seventy years by county... Arkansas does have a LARGE suburban population.
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Alcon
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« Reply #9 on: April 01, 2007, 04:33:07 PM »

Yeah...northwest Arkansas is pretty much one giant suburban development.  Arkansas has a very significant suburban population.
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jokerman
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« Reply #10 on: April 01, 2007, 07:09:34 PM »

Hmmm... checking the state's population developments over the past seventy years by county... Arkansas does have a LARGE suburban population.
But it has only developed relatively lately, so the GOP didn't have the historical suburban base to build on like they did in some other southern states.
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minionofmidas
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« Reply #11 on: April 02, 2007, 05:05:15 AM »

Yeah...northwest Arkansas is pretty much one giant suburban development.  Arkansas has a very significant suburban population.
Well northwest Arkansas is Republican anyways... but check the center of the state: Saline, Garland (with an older urban core of course), Faulkner, Lonoke...
Hmmm... checking the state's population developments over the past seventy years by county... Arkansas does have a LARGE suburban population.
But it has only developed relatively lately, so the GOP didn't have the historical suburban base to build on like they did in some other southern states.
Indeed. Very astute.
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minionofmidas
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« Reply #12 on: April 02, 2007, 10:53:59 AM »

One could turn that around and ask why so many billionairs (Trump, Soros, Lewis, etc) support Democrats, buy hey, their billionairs, what's going to effect them. 
I am NOT a billionaire.
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angus
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« Reply #13 on: April 02, 2007, 11:12:43 AM »


It's hillbilly country.  It's like West Virginia politically.  I'd avoid ambiguous terms like "conservative" (and for that matter "liberal") in such a discussion as this.  I'd describe it as traditionalistic, to use Jacob Elazar's Political Culture model, and in that sense it is much like the rest of the South.  But like WV, Arkansas doesn't consist of a few rich guys and lots of poor guys.  It's pretty much all poor guys.  Planters never did put tobacco and such way up in the hills, but rather stayed in the rich soils of the coastal plains, so fabulously rich planters never added to the Southern quality of WV and AR the way they did in, say, Virginia or the Carolinas.  And "chicken in every pot" and the rest of the New Deal and Johnson's Great Society resonate very well with poor hillbillies.  It's the same way in England.  Lowland people look a bit down on hillfolk.  Think of all the jokes about Scots having sex with their sheep.  Same way here.  We have Virginia and the Carolinas populated by wealthy English gentleman planters, and the McCoys and Hatfields and other various Scots and Welsh groups moving into WV (and eventually, after the French and Indian Wars, to AR).  So those places are like Little Scotland whereas the rest of the South is, well, I was about to say little England, but it's more like half little England and half little Ghana, owing to the slave trade of the 16th through 19th centuries.  So basically, it's traditionalistic like the rest of the south, but the lack of the very rich (white) planters, and the lack of the very very poor descendants of the slaves gives it a much more homogenous feel.  And the lack of any fabulously wealthy folks also make leftist politics resonate better there as well.  Socialism sells pretty well when you don't have a pot to piss in.  This doesn't come from a basic lack of conservative values, but rather a basic lack of economic resources.
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« Reply #14 on: April 02, 2007, 12:14:21 PM »

Now, there are exceptions to this.  Gun Rights simply cannot be compromised, in the eyes of an Arkansan.  A candidate for office has little chance of winning with a pro gun control position.   Obviously, when a Democratic candidate fails to distinguish himself significantly from the Republican on the down to earth issues important to them, social issues will take first importance in that key swing proportion of the electorate.

Look at Bill Clinton's record.
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jokerman
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« Reply #15 on: April 02, 2007, 03:59:38 PM »

Interesting you point Clinton out, but his record on gun rights as governor, I believe, was very uncontroversial.  I'll admit Clinton is somewhat unique, however his charisma and political skill allow him to be unique.
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Gustaf
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« Reply #16 on: April 03, 2007, 09:28:31 AM »

I should point out that I was going more by historical data in my comment on suburbs. Suburbanization was largely responsible for states like Virginia, Tennessee, Florida and Texas swinging towards the Republicans in the 50s and 60s.
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minionofmidas
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« Reply #17 on: April 03, 2007, 02:30:52 PM »

I should point out that I was going more by historical data in my comment on suburbs. Suburbanization was largely responsible for states like Virginia, Tennessee, Florida and Texas swinging towards the Republicans in the 50s and 60s.
Oh yes, in that sense it's valid.
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Gustaf
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« Reply #18 on: April 04, 2007, 06:22:13 AM »

I should point out that I was going more by historical data in my comment on suburbs. Suburbanization was largely responsible for states like Virginia, Tennessee, Florida and Texas swinging towards the Republicans in the 50s and 60s.
Oh yes, in that sense it's valid.

And what is interesting is of course that this de-Southernization of certain states which made them more Republican friendly in the past is now taking them in the other direction, so that Florida and Virginia were actually Kerry's best states in the South, despite the fact that neither voted for Clinton in 1992 (and Virginia of course not even for Carter).
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