Electoral Patterns in Alabama

“Top-down interpretations of American politics are everywhere, interpretations in which state and local developments are mainly reflections--even merely examples--of a national story.  So a bottom-up approach is instantly noteworthy, and few if any states have changed as much as Alabama in this bottom-up interpretation of postwar Alabama politics.”

 --Byron E. Shafer, Department of Political Science, University of Wisconsin, USA

 “This book provides an excellent analysis of electoral change in arguably the most “southern” of southern states since 1945, and interplay of class and race in Alabama politics past and present.”

--Nicol Rae, Associate Dean, College of Applied Science and Technology Professor, University of Arizona, USA

 “This is an invaluable addition to the scholarly literature on Southern politics and party realignment.” 

--Harold F. Bass, Department of Political Science, Ouachita Baptist University, USA

While significant attention in political science is devoted to national level elections, a comprehensive look at state level political dynamics in the United States is so far sorely missing, and state level electoral developments and shifts are treated as mere reflections of national-level dynamics and patterns, which significantly impacts our ability to understand macro-level electoral shifts in the United States in general. This book analyzes gubernatorial, congressional, and presidential election results in the state of Alabama from 1945 through 2020. Comprehensive maps of county-level partisan shifts over time make it possible to isolate pivotal elections and compare state-level and national trends over time. When and where did Alabama’s electorate break with the Democratic Party, and were these breaks uniform across the state? Which counties shifted the most over time, and was this shift gradual or characterized by change elections? Comprehensive electoral data make it possible to place state-level electoral behavior in its regional and national context. Detailed county level demographic and economic data is used to provide local context for electoral patterns, shifts, and continuities.

Regina L. Wagner is Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Alabama, USA.