when did the south switch from democrat to republican
Southern strategy
Political scientist Nelson W. Polsby argued that economic development was more central than racial desegregation in the evolution of the postwar South in Congress . In The End of Southern Exceptionalism : Class , Race , and Partisan Change in the Postwar South , the British political scientist Byron E. Shafer and the Canadian Richard Johnston developed Polsby 's argument in greater depth . Using roll call analysis of voting patterns in the House of Representatives , they found that issues of desegregation and race were less important than issues of economics and social class when it came to the transformation of partisanship in the South . This view is backed by Glenn Feldman who notes that the early narratives on the Southern realignment focused on the idea of appealing to racism . This argument was first and thus took hold as the accepted narrative . However , he notes that Lassiter 's dissenting view on this subject , a view that the realignment was a `` suburban strategy '' rather than a `` Southern strategy '' , was just one of the first of a rapidly growing list of scholars who see the civil rights `` white backlash '' as a secondary or minor factor . Authors such as Tim Boyd , George Lewis , Michael Bowen and John W. White follow the lead of Lassiter , Shafer and Johnston in viewing suburban voters and their self interests as the primary reason for the realignment . He does not discount race as part of the motivation of these suburban voters who were fleeing urban crime and school busing .
Political scientist Nelson W. Polsby argued that economic development was more central than racial desegregation in the evolution of the postwar South in Congress . In The End of Southern Exceptionalism : Class , Race , and Partisan Change in the Postwar South , the British political scientist Byron E. Shafer and the Canadian Richard Johnston developed Polsby 's argument in greater depth . Using roll call analysis of voting patterns in the House of Representatives , they found that issues of desegregation and race were less important than issues of economics and social class when it came to the transformation of partisanship in the South . This view is backed by Glenn Feldman who notes that the early narratives on the Southern realignment focused on the idea of appealing to racism . This argument was first and thus took hold as the accepted narrative . However , he notes that Lassiter 's dissenting view on this subject , a view that the realignment was a `` suburban strategy '' rather than a `` Southern strategy '' , was just one of the first of a rapidly growing list of scholars who see the civil rights `` white backlash '' as a secondary or minor factor . Authors such as Tim Boyd , George Lewis , Michael Bowen and John W. White follow the lead of Lassiter , Shafer and Johnston in viewing suburban voters and their self interests as the primary reason for the realignment . He does not discount race as part of the motivation of these suburban voters who were fleeing urban crime and school busing .