Why did the entire South elect Liberal Jimmy Carter over Gerald Ford in 1976? (voting, Iran)

[texdav]

Carter was choose by most after Nixon. People basically did not want a inside Washington politician. Carter was a honest man at least if not successful president. I can't think of a instance he even lied to American people.I didn't vote for him but I do respect him.

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by texdav

Carter was choose by most after Nixon. People basically did not want a inside Washington politician. Carter was a honest man at least if not successful president. I can't think of a instance he even lied to American people.I didn't vote for him but I do respect him.

Yet as one pundit once said in the early days, Jimmy Carter was such a good ex-president it's too bad he wasn't one sooner.

[bluesjuke]

Originally Posted by merv1225

Another factor was that Carter campaigned openly as a "born again" Christian. As a result, he picked up the evangelical vote in the South.

Hey that would be Dem points against hom nowadays, at least to an extent.

[silas777]

Originally Posted by wehotex

I wouldn't really label Pres Carter a "liberal". The partisan divide was not like what it is now. There was much more overlap. Let's not forget that Pres Nixon gave us the EPA and accelerated Affirmative Action. Pres Ford gave away the Panama Canal in 1975. The South was still pretty Dem back in those days too. The Repub party wasn't hijacked by the religious loonies until the Reagan era. Ford was a flawed candidate because he pardoned Pres Nixon and was a victim of the Watergate fallout.

Perhaps not back then... but now I certainly would and question his sanity.

[dsjj251]

Originally Posted by wutitiz

The supposed ideological flip was highly overrated. Carter swept the South in 1976; 4 years later Reagan swept the South with the exception of Georgia. In 84 and 88, Reagan and HW Bush both swept the South. In 1992 and 1996 Clinton/HW Bush and Clinton/Dole roughly split the South.

The fact is that the South does not march in lock step, and has not for a long time.

1996, was 18 years and 4 presidential elections ago.

Since that Point, the South has indeed been in lockstep with Republicans.

[wutitiz]

Pres. Carter was proof that every presidential election is unique. Until he came along no one would have entertained the notion of a Democratic, born again Christian from the South could have been POTUS. Note also that JC had executive experience as GA gov, but it did not serve him well as POTUS.

The attempts to apply formulaic criteria to presidents fails. All the rules commonly proffered about executive experience, skin tone, gender, geography, etc. are a fail because the sample size is too small.

I think Ben Carson will be a viable candidate in 2016, and he pretty much violates all of the above. Every presidential election is unique.

[texdav]

Only one problem: who is Bill Carson?

[CaseyB]

Carter didn't portray himself as any kind of liberal. He appeared to be an honest outsider, folksy, a Christian.

[texdav]

Oh; Gerald ford was seen as pretty much a Washington insider and looked at like Biden. But he now gets credit for take the country thru a pretty bad time smoothly.My guess is this time voters will look for another governor with executive experience that they can see and appreciate. Not a carter type at all that can get us forgiveness for our sins but one that has had results that demonstrate success.

[disgruntled la native]

What a fascinating map... Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana voting the same way as New York, Taxachusetts, and Maryland? Carter basically won with a coalition of now the most conservative and most lefty states. The southerners were duped because Carter ended up being far left. Ford won everything in the middle.