If Civil Rights were decided by referendums in the 1950s onwards, what would the result be?

[Blue3]

If Civil Rights were decided by referendums in the 1950s onwards, what would the result be?

[progressive85]

A statewide policy of segregation would have passed overwhelmingly at the ballot in many of the states, but over time it may have died out, or what we have today in many places which is that segregation is not state policy but it just occurs in society without being a law.  (de jure vs. de facto)

If there was no Loving vs. Virginia case in 1967, the bans on interracial marriage would have been in place longer, but by today I think every state would have legalized it by the ballot if they were asked to.  Alabama was the last state to repeal their ban on interracial marriage in 2000.

There also would have been different outcomes after time had passed.  A state that voted against a civil rights law in the 1950s and 1960s might have reversed itself by the 1970s and 1980s.

[Sumner 1868]

Well, here's how things were when Brown v. Board happened:



So we get an idea of how it would have gone.

[Vice President Christian Man]

I believe that large swaths of the West and South would've voted to keep it, while the Coastal West, Industrial Midwest, and Northeast would've voted to end it. The Plains could've gone either way, but I think that as a result of the closeness they would've decided the final result.

[Blue3]

I believe that large swaths of the West and South would've voted to keep it, while the Coastal West, Industrial Midwest, and Northeast would've voted to end it The Plains could've gone either way, but I think that as a result of the closeness they would've decided the final result.

And by 2023?

[Ferguson97]

I believe that large swaths of the West and South would've voted to keep it, while the Coastal West, Industrial Midwest, and Northeast would've voted to end it The Plains could've gone either way, but I think that as a result of the closeness they would've decided the final result.

And by 2023?

[Vice President Christian Man]

I believe that large swaths of the West and South would've voted to keep it, while the Coastal West, Industrial Midwest, and Northeast would've voted to end it The Plains could've gone either way, but I think that as a result of the closeness they would've decided the final result.

And by 2023?

I doubt any state would vote in favor of it today and even by the 1990's, it would've been a largely resolved issue.

[Vice President Christian Man]

I believe that large swaths of the West and South would've voted to keep it, while the Coastal West, Industrial Midwest, and Northeast would've voted to end it The Plains could've gone either way, but I think that as a result of the closeness they would've decided the final result.

And by 2023?

Keep in mind that Kentucky rejected a Jim Crow era. measure by a landslide in the 1990's and Alabama banned an interracial marriage ban by referendum which won by a wide margin in 2000. I think you're greatly overstating the public result of segregation. Even if propaganda was able to sway some voters, I don't believe they'd get more than 10% of the national vote today and most likely it would be lower. And 3 of those states on your EV voted for Obama, one of them voted for him twice. I know it has swung right since then, but many of those voters are Midwestern/Northeastern boomers who aren't neo-Confederate types.

[Blue3]

I believe that large swaths of the West and South would've voted to keep it, while the Coastal West, Industrial Midwest, and Northeast would've voted to end it The Plains could've gone either way, but I think that as a result of the closeness they would've decided the final result.

And by 2023?

I doubt any state would vote in favor of it today and even by the 1990's, it would've been a largely resolved issue.

Well that’s on the timeline of it having been the law for Decades. If it wasn’t the law for decades, there could still be many holdouts that don’t feel that pressure. Or even states that revert back to segregation.

[wnwnwn]

It would pass by 1964.

[Blue3]

It would pass by 1964.

There is no national referendum. I’m saying by state referendums.

[The Mikado]

I assume the trick here is that the referenda would be governed by Jim Crow voting laws so the massive chunk of black population in states like MS, LA, and SC doesn't really weigh in correctly, right?

Anyway, various relatively racially moderate Southern states like North Carolina or Florida would undo it by the 1980s or 1990s.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

You had one.

[Middle-aged Europe]

If Civil Rights were decided by referendums in the 1950s onwards, what would the result be?

[Vosem]

Really depends on which rights. I think by the 1960s the continuation of voting restrictions and unequal public accommodations was untenable; the 1964 election had virtually the same patterns as polling asking Americans their opinions of the Brown v. Board decision. At the same time the restrictions on private discrimination were not popular even in otherwise 'left-wing' areas.

As with other large-scale changes in American law, in the real world the changes wrought by civil rights law ended up being as large as they were much more because of court decisions than because of public opinion. I think that if things were truly decided on public opinion grounds that the movement's success would have been much more limited: in particular, I doubt restrictions on discrimination by private parties would have ever become widespread, to say nothing of the affirmative action regime which existed undisturbed for 50 years and was poisonously unpopular throughout that entire period.

[Del Tachi]

I believe that large swaths of the West and South would've voted to keep it, while the Coastal West, Industrial Midwest, and Northeast would've voted to end it The Plains could've gone either way, but I think that as a result of the closeness they would've decided the final result.

And by 2023?

Florida, a state that is only ~50% White, would vote for racial segregation in 2023?  lmao