Suchergebnisse

Democrats once dominated the 'Solid South.' By the turn of the 21st century, Republicans had taken control. We are in the midst of the dawning of new, more progressive era. Theories explaining Republican growth provide little guidance, but a new perspective - movers and stayers theory - explains this recent growth in Democratic support and the ways in which population growth has produced it.

The South is on the cusp of a partisan transformation-one in which Democratic support is quickly accelerating--and Movers and Stayers explains why this change is occurring. It shows how young, educated movers are encouraging the increasing progressivism of the high growth communities that are their new homes, and it highlights the increasing conservatism of white stayers in the communities movers are leaving behind. Movers and Stayers highlights the contributions of blacks and Latinos to the growing progressivism in the South, and it explains the coming schism between high growth and stagnating communities (and states) in the South.

Acharya, Blackwell, and Sen (2018) argue that antebellum slavery is directly related to racial conservatism and support for the Republican Party in the modern South. Yet during the last two decades, the South has begun a subtle but still very significant partisan shift to the left. Areas where population growth has stagnated (or actually declined) have tended to become more Republican; Democratic support has been bolstered by higher population growth. Significantly, local population growth and historic slave populations are largely unrelated. I examine the extent to which antebellum slavery influences county-level southern White partisanship and racial resentment during the second decade of the 21st century. Over the course of this time period, the impact of antebellum slavery evaporates. Not coincidentally, county-level population growth is strongly associated with increased Democratic identification and more progressive racial attitudes at or near the end of this time frame.