georgia--1972 & 1976

[Filuwaúrdjan]

....for one election.  1976 was a bump in the road of realignment of the south to the GOP.  It didn't fundamentally alter the trend, only delayed it slightly.  In the long run, Carter helped the GOP because much of what happened during his presidency was a confirmation on why one should not vote Democratic.

Disagree. True the South has become more Republican recently (mostly due to demographic changes IMO) and national Democratic candidates have trouble with a lot of rural Democratic voters down there but it hasn't turned into a sort of mirror image of the old Solid South like it could have done.

Off topic though

[Beet]

....for one election.  1976 was a bump in the road of realignment of the south to the GOP.  It didn't fundamentally alter the trend, only delayed it slightly.  In the long run, Carter helped the GOP because much of what happened during his presidency was a confirmation on why one should not vote Democratic.

Disagree. True the South has become more Republican recently (mostly due to demographic changes IMO) and national Democratic candidates have trouble with a lot of rural Democratic voters down there but it hasn't turned into a sort of mirror image of the old Solid South like it could have done.

Off topic though

Both parties now get most of their votes from either urban or suburban voters. The GOP gets most of its votes from suburban voters while the Dem get most of their votes from urban voters. The fact that the suburbs in the South are fanatically GOP has always been a major factor, but last year there was suddenly a surge in rural support for the GOP in the South as well, and the two "regions" are now on par with crowding out the urban areas.

[minionofmidas]

1972:


1976:

RI only has 4 counties

No, Rhode Island has 5 Counties: Providence (the northernmost of the three counties on the state's western border), Kent (the central one of those three counties), Washington (the southernmost of those three counties), Bristol (the county that looks like a very short ponytail or the bow of a bandana (from a side view) extending southeast from Providence County - it is on the mainland, but doesn't look it from the map) and Newport (those islands you see south of Bristol County and east of Washington County).  See http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/maps/rhode_island_map.html to see a rough outline map of the counties (I say rough because I don't think one could walk on the coast of the mainland directly from Kent County to Bristol County, but I guess the mapmakers considered only what is in white on that map (and obviously not Connecticut and Massachusetts) to be the ocean and so colored the rest in that light blueish-purplish color).

Oh yeah, BUMP

Kevin

...and another bit of trivia: Washington County was named King's County until the revolutionary era. And I think Bristol County RI and Bristol County MA are the only two counties of the same name bordering each other. Although I might be wrong. Anyways Bristol County RI is the result of a colonial era boundary dispute between Bristol County MA and - not sure whether it's Newport or Providence County RI. The colony of Rhode Island got the disputed area in the end, but the county didn't.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Both parties now get most of their votes from either urban or suburban voters. The GOP gets most of its votes from suburban voters while the Dem get most of their votes from urban voters. The fact that the suburbs in the South are fanatically GOP has always been a major factor, but last year there was suddenly a surge in rural support for the GOP in the South as well, and the two "regions" are now on par with crowding out the urban areas.

True about where the votes come from.

There was certainly a surge in GOP support in the Presidential election in the rural South especially, but it's interesting that with a few exceptions it didn't really flow downballot a great deal. Whether it's a longterm change or a reaction to a blatent "Northeast Liberal" being nominated I'm not sure.
We'll find out soon enough

Strange that a year old discussion hath started up again though.

[dazzleman]

....for one election.  1976 was a bump in the road of realignment of the south to the GOP.  It didn't fundamentally alter the trend, only delayed it slightly.  In the long run, Carter helped the GOP because much of what happened during his presidency was a confirmation on why one should not vote Democratic.

Disagree. True the South has become more Republican recently (mostly due to demographic changes IMO) and national Democratic candidates have trouble with a lot of rural Democratic voters down there but it hasn't turned into a sort of mirror image of the old Solid South like it could have done.

Off topic though

I should have been more specific.  I should have said realignment in presidential politics.  I realize that a lot of southerners vote Democratic down-ticket, but of course the Democrats they vote for bear no resemblance to those endorsed by the national party.

[Joe Republic]

Although the party switches weren't unanimous in terms of all the counties, these states came really close:

1972


1976



1960


1964


1968