General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Can someone please explain to me why the Republican Party still enjoys [View all]customerserviceguy
(25,183 posts)in the rural areas that used to identify with Democratic candidates that were seen as being on the side of the working people. People out in the country want to keep their guns, they go to churches that make them uncomfortable about abortion and gay people, and they feel that support for the military makes them patriotic.
In the South, the D's managed to hold on to voters for a long time, because those in the defeated South resented the excesses of Reconstruction. After the Civil Rights Acts of 1964, then subsequent urban rioting in American cities in 1965-68, Nixon was ready to pry them away with his "Law and Order" campaign tagline. And he did it with George Wallace peeling away the votes of the most severe of the racists.
Add in the well-off folks in the suburbs who want low taxes, and you've got 35 percent right there, add in scared mushy-middlers every once in awhile, and you can jack that up to 50 percent.