One of the biggest U.S. political stories of 2017 was the boost that the Democratic Party got in elections across the country, widely interpreted as part of a backlash against the Trump presidency. And much of the party’s success came where few expected it — in the South. … These […] Read more »
Democrats have a new Southern strategy
With Doug Jones’ upset victory in last week’s Alabama US Senate race, Democrats are solidifying a new model for rebuilding their tattered competitiveness in the South. Jones benefited from the unique vulnerabilities of his opponent, Republican Roy Moore, who was a deeply polarizing figure even before he was besieged by […] Read more »
Roy Moore’s Alabama
… I have closely studied Winston County history and have long been proud of my ancestral ties. I wanted to explore whether traditional Republicanism could fully explain how the Old South’s most independent thinkers became Trump zombies willing now to send a plausibly accused pedophile to the Senate rather than […] Read more »
Before Breitbart, there was the Charleston News and Courier
Political reporter William D. Workman speaks at a GOP event in 1962. Courtesy of South Carolina Political Collections, University of South Carolina, CC BY Sid Bedingfield, University of Minnesota Conservatives who dislike Donald Trump like to blame the president and his Breitbart cheering section for the racial demagoguery they see […] Read more »
Beyond Virginia: How America’s Big Counties Are Reshaping Politics
Whether they want it or not, the last year has given Americans a master class in political polarization. But the terminology commonly used to describe the peeling apart of the country’s Republican and Democratic factions — “red states and blue states,” “coastal elitists vs. flyover country” and the like — […] Read more »
Poll of Southern States: Politics, Religion, Race, Heritage
Southern black residents are more likely to be religious than white residents, according to the latest Winthrop Poll, given in 11 Southern states, but are less likely to believe that America was founded as an explicitly Christian nation. … The latest Winthrop Poll asked residents about their attitudes toward race, […] Read more »