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The lines of political discourse in 1976 are not what you would expect at all. This is not a political divide map I can easily make sense of.
Connecticut, Vermont, and New Jersey all went with Gerald Ford (Republican) and yet very Liberal Jimmy Carter (Democrat) picked up ever single Southern state?!
The first thing that came to mind is the fact that Jimmy Carter is from rural southern Georgia. That's not to mention that the ideological flip between the GOP and the Dems wasn't finished at that point; a lot of southern GOP politicians were Southern Democrats until the 1990s. In Georgia for example, our governor (Nathan Deal) was a Democrat until the mid-1990s.
The lines of political discourse in 1976 are not what you would expect at all. This is not a political divide map I can easily make sense of.
Connecticut, Vermont, and New Jersey all went with Gerald Ford (Republican) and yet very Liberal Jimmy Carter (Democrat) picked up ever single Southern state?!
Baby Boomers were young and foolish. Four years was enough to wisen up a lot of folks. "The ignorant always wisen up." -Charles Neal
Takes a bit longer to wisen up in this day of rumor, mean girls and gossip via social media. Very potent information source, incredibly subject to misinformation, manipulation and propaganda.
What makes you think Carter was the liberal in that race?
In 1976 the WWII generation was fully entrenched in power and many rural Southerners of that age would vote for dead possum so long as it was a Democrat. Plus, Ford still had the stink of Nixon on him, so that helped Carter's chances.
There was an episode of "An American Experience" that partially address the answer to your question: In both his run for Governor and then for President he privately led southern state Dem party leaders/fundraisers believe that he had segregationist sympathies and once he had the nomination locked up then he showed his true beliefs.
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.
The ideological spectrum changed after Reagan. Prior to Reagan, what it meant to be a conservative Republican was entirely different. Nixon imposed wage/price controls, for example.
The lines of political discourse in 1976 are not what you would expect at all. This is not a political divide map I can easily make sense of.
Connecticut, Vermont, and New Jersey all went with Gerald Ford (Republican) and yet very Liberal Jimmy Carter (Democrat) picked up ever single Southern state?!
Watergate! Which was combined with the Agnew's forced resignation for tax evasion to create a sense that Republicans were corrupt. Carter seemed like a breath of fresh air - so honest and so sincere. At the time it was thought no Republican would ever win national office again. But.....
For all those that think Obama is the most picked on president - you missed this mess.
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The ideological spectrum changed after Reagan. Prior to Reagan, what it meant to be a conservative Republican was entirely different. Nixon imposed wage/price controls, for example.
And proposed national healthcare.
__________________
When I post in bold red that is moderator action and, per the TOS, can only be discussed through Direct Message.
Moderator - Diabetes and Kentucky (including Lexington & Louisville)
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