General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: When the 'Reagan Democrats' voted GOP in 1980/1984 [View all]Drunken Irishman
(34,857 posts)They were losing them at the presidential level, but even during the GOP presidential wave of the 70s and 80s, Democrats still did significantly better, on the whole, than the GOP in congressional and senate elections. They held the House for that entire period of time, and the Senate for a good portion of it.
1994 changed everything. Of course, the Democrats also lost the House for the first time in a generation and, while they've been able to win it back, it's much more competitive now than in the past. Even in 2006, a Democratic wave year, the Democrats still only managed 48% of the white vote - their high water mark of the post-1994 landscape.
In 2018, Democrats lost the white vote 44-54, which is closer to 2008's totals. I'm guessing that's about as high as the Democrats could ever do in this current era.