Talk:Politics of the Southern United States

Spin off

This article was spun off from the politics section of Southern United States because that section was getting too large. Obviously this article will need a lot more info, which I will add in the coming weeks.--Alabamaboy 01:18, 4 September 2005 (UTC)

This article's outdated. Frist is no longer the Senate Majority leader, otherwise he'd be a Democrat.

Southern Presidents: What about Woodrow Wilson? Does he count? Sometimes I see him included in these lists and sometimes not. He was born in Virginia but was a politician in New Jersey. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 130.74.34.159 (talk) 18:24, 8 November 2011 (UTC)

Maryland

Maryland is wishy-washy.

Maryland is counted in this article as "southern" because it is below the Mason-Dixon line. While may technically be true, Maryland is culturally, economically and politically and arguably geographically part of the Mid-Atlantic or the wider Northeast. 82.152.203.92 (talk) 14:04, 16 April 2008 (UTC)

Wrong. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.166.39.74 (talk) 15:52, 18 December 2008 (UTC)

Mr/Mrs/Ms 71.166.39.74, your response to Mr/Mrs/Ms 82.152.203.92 is unhelpful. His/her assertion that Maryland is not a Southern state may be false, but simply declaring him/her wrong doesn't show any of us why he/she is wrong.

As for the original question, it seems very likely that he/she is right. Maryland, according to Wikipedia, "is a state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States". If it were questionable whether or not Maryland is a Southern state, I believe that there would've been a discussion over which to consider it, and evidently they decided it was a Mid-Atlantic state.

This is how I see it. Do you still think 82 and I are wrong? If so, please explain. — Athelwulf ^[T]/_[C] 15:42, 20 December 2008 (UTC)

I've included an image from Southern United States to demonstrate that Maryland is a border state. It is indeed in the Mid-Atlantic region and remained in the Union during the American Civil War, yet as mentioned it's below the Mason-Dixon Line and was a slave state. For what it's worth, since the article is about Southern politics, in 1964 George Wallace received 43% of the vote in Maryland. That said, there doesn't appear to be much about the state here; if there's something other than semantics to discuss, I'd be happy to assist you. Recognizance (talk) 22:05, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

By definition, border states are marginal cases; but the history of Maryland politics, especially its status as a slave state, reflect its long cultural history as the northernmost Southern state. It is on the southern side of the legendary Mason-Dixon Line; it was a slave state; etc. --Orange Mike | Talk 23:44, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

Precisely. See also Old South. Recognizance (talk) 18:45, 3 September 2009 (UTC)

Southern Presidents / George H. W. Bush

Contrary to what is currently stated in the article, George H. W. Bush was officially and legally a resident of Houston, Texas, (and, therefore, the South) when elected president in 1988. He and his wife cast their 1988 (and other) ballots in Houston. Directly prior to his service as Vice President (one does not lose residency while serving in the federal government), he represented Texas in the U.S. House of Representatives. On this list, he should be in exactly the same category as his son.

http://www.nytimes.com/1988/11/10/us/elections-texas-power-houston-used-tall-politicians-claims-next-president.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm

Absmileydix (talk) 19:47, 9 August 2012 (UTC)

Elections

Most of this article addresses elections at the lowest level. Politics at this level is what elected officials do after they are elected: pass statutes, etc. Student7 (talk) 23:53, 19 February 2013 (UTC)

Also has a lot of history. There is a history article. I'll try to move history there and we can see if a separate "political history" or "election history" is needed. Student7 (talk) 23:35, 22 February 2013 (UTC)

Sorting it out will take awhile. All intermixed. Not a lot of "politics" here though. We're lacking info for the elections article. Student7 (talk) 01:19, 23 February 2013 (UTC)

Undue Weight in the "The South becomes Republican" section

The current wording of this section makes it sound like the South immediately shifted from D to R after the Civil Rights Act, and that racial issues were pretty much the only motivation for the change. It ignores a major part of late 20th century politics: the sexual revolution (in particular, the Democrats' endorsement of Roe v. Wade) and its impact on driving social conservatives (especially evangelical christians) to the Republican party. It also ignores prominent post-1964 Southern Democrats like Jimmy Carter. --DanBishop (talk) 07:18, 17 January 2014 (UTC)

Irevised that. The civil rights issue moved the great majority of blacks into the Dem party. However in the 1970s and 1980s, most of the whites were Dems at the state & local level and GOP at the presidential level. By the 1990s the white Dems became far fewer. Rjensen (talk) 09:54, 17 January 2014 (UTC)

No, racial issues weren't the complete reason for the switch but they were a very large part of it. This was called the Southern strategy and is very well documented. I've inserted information on this, along with a number of citations supporting this. It's hard to believe this section didn't even mention or link to the Southern strategy article.

I also removed a number of unsupported statements from this section. Some of what was being stated here sounded like original research. If anyone has citations to support the statements, feel free to reinsert. I also removed one statement which was cited because the citation did not support what was being stated.--SouthernNights (talk) 22:58, 2 February 2014 (UTC)

The "Southern Strategy" is a highly controversial point among scholars. It's used chiefly by Nixon's enemies--indeed there are a lot of those! The problem is that it deals only with one presidential campaign (1972) and does not apply to state and local history. Rjensen (talk) 23:27, 2 February 2014 (UTC)

While I don't agree, there's no reason to go into more detail on the Southern strategy in this section. A single mention seems appropriate and balanced. But to not mention the strategy seems wrong, especially since Nixon's campaign was the beginning of large numbers of Republican victories in the South. --SouthernNights (talk) 22:42, 4 February 2014 (UTC)

Isn't anyone going to dispute the last part of this sentence: "Many white southerners switched to the Republican Party during the 1960s, most for reasons unrelated to race." Seems to me the tag "disputed-discuss" is more appropriate here than almost anywhere else it is used.Amyzex (talk) 20:55, 15 June 2022 (UTC)

Political views and affiliations in the South

How does the percent to come out to 292% Error? Consigiliere (talk) 02:22, 19 June 2022 (UTC)

Under "In recent trends" Consigiliere (talk) 02:23, 19 June 2022 (UTC)

Citation is not publicly accessible. Consigiliere (talk) 02:26, 19 June 2022 (UTC)

Slavery

Slavery was not the main cause of the war...even grant said if he thought the war was about slavery he would offer his services to the south. Lincoln did not emancipated the slaves in all states.only the states that seceded — Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.240.67.4 (talk) 17:17, 16 July 2022 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: Writing 10 Dean

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 17 August 2022 and 16 December 2022. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Hvarela2 (article contribs).

— Assignment last updated by Hvarela2 (talk) 00:03, 18 November 2022 (UTC)