'Solid South' no longer just all-red or all-blue

[marmar]

AP, via HuffPost:



ATLANTA — The "Solid South" was a political fact, benefiting Democrats for generations and then Republicans, with Bible Belt and racial politics ruling the day.

But demographic changes and recent election results reveal a more nuanced landscape now as the two major parties prepare for their national conventions. Republicans will convene Aug. 27 in Florida, well established as a melting-pot battleground state, to nominate Mitt Romney of Massachusetts. Democrats will toast President Barack Obama the following week in North Carolina, the perfect example of a Southern electorate not so easily pigeon-holed.

Obama won both states and Virginia four years ago, propelled by young voters, nonwhites and suburban independents. Virginia, long a two-party state in down-ballot races, had not sided with Democrats on the presidency since Lyndon Johnson in 1964. Jimmy Carter in 1976 had been the last Democratic nominee to win North Carolina. Each state is in play again, with Romney needing to reclaim Florida and at least one of the others to reach the White House.

.......(snip).......

New citizens, birth rates, and migration patterns of native-born Americans make high-growth areas less white, less conservative or both. There is increasing urban concentration in many areas. African-American families are moving back to the South after generations in Chicago, New York or other northern cities. ................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20120819/us-the-south-political-evolution/

[raccoon]

1. Gives me hope. nt

[renie408]

2. This South Carolinian agrees! n/t

[Ira]

3. Texas may turn pink

I believe that one of the surprises in the November election will be that Texas turns from the bright red of 2010 to pink, due mainly to the growing hispanic population and the in-migration from other states of folks seeking employment. It is not unreasonable to believe that these trends will continue, that the political influence of the rural areas will decline and that Texas turns purple (swing) in 2020 or at latest 2024.