realignment — Bunk History

Former President Jimmy Carter speaking to the congregation at Maranatha Baptist Church before teaching Sunday school in 2019.

Jimmy Carter’s Most Perplexing Legacy

For all of his personal Christian devotion, he could not capture the hearts of white evangelicals.

by Thomas S. Kidd via The Dispatch on December 31, 2024

A sign in support of Donald Trump in front of an Ohio junkyard in 2024.

The 2024 Election Marked the Inversion of the Electoral Map

Basic political geography means Democrats might need to ask themselves a broader question as they look to rebound.

by Stephanie Ternullo via Made By History on December 16, 2024

How Trump’s Red Wave Builds on the Past

Donald’s Trump’s resounding 2024 victory echoes electoral shifts of the past.

via Retro Report on November 8, 2024

Polling volunteer handing a voter an "I Voted" sticker.

Did We Just See an Electoral Realignment?

Shifting voting patterns suggest it’s possible, but only if they persist through subsequent elections.

by Harold Meyerson via The American Prospect on November 7, 2024

W.E.B. Du Bois

When Did Black Voters Shift to Democrats? Earlier Than You Might Think

A look at how and why African Americans first started to abandon the GOP for the Democratic Party.

by Blake Wilson via Retropolis on June 30, 2024

Joe Biden, with a nervous expression, campaigning in Wisconsin.

How Trump Captured the Rust Belt—And What Democrats Can Do

History not only explains how the industrial Midwest became Trump country, but also how the area's politics may shift again.

by Stephanie Ternullo via Made By History on April 2, 2024

Donald Trump in Alabama.

To Understand Trump's Appeal, Look to Alabama History

The transformation of Alabama politics in the 1960s and 1970s reflected the rise of a new version of Republicanism that Trump has perfected.

by Ashley Steenson via Made By History on January 25, 2024

Political cartoon of Franklin Roosevelt pulling the Democratic Party donkey with Uncle Sam, Congress, and Republicans behind them.

Pitching the Big Tent

The secret, often missing ingredient to building a majoritarian progressive coalition.

by Nicole Hemmer via Democracy Journal on March 22, 2023

Then–Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama in Mitchell, S.D.

What Does It Take to Win?

A new history of American politics examines the past and future of political realignments.

by Kim Phillips-Fein via The Nation on January 24, 2023

Timeline of the history of American political parties to 1880, depicting intertwined streams of Democrats, Whigs, and Republicans.

What is Political Realignment?

An annotated collection of resources from the Bunk archive that help explain the shifting sands of American politics.

by Kathryn Ostrofsky on September 8, 2022

Kevin Kruse vs. Dinesh D'Souza: Dixiecrat Edition

A conservative pundit questioned the prevalence of Dixiecrats switching to the GOP. Historian Kevin Kruse accepted the challenge.

by Kevin M. Kruse via Twitter on July 2, 2018

A political cartoon showing two figures leading donkeys in opposite directions. The donkeys are depicted with the faces of Zachary Taylor and Henry Clay.

Prospects for Partisan Realignment: Lessons from the Demise of the Whigs

What America’s last major party crack-up in the 1850s tells us about the 2010s.

by Philip Wallach via Brookings on March 6, 2017

Side by side photos of Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Donald Trump.

How Republicans Went From the Party of Lincoln to the Party of Trump, in 13 Maps

It's been a remarkable transformation over 162 years.

by Andrew Prokop via Vox on July 20, 2016

Black Democrats raise their hands at the Democratic Convention.

23 Maps That Explain How Democrats Went From the Party of Racism to the Party of Obama

The longest-running party in America has seen significant shifts in its ideological and geographic makeup.

by Andrew Prokop via Vox on December 8, 2014

FDR flashing the victory sign.

Franklin Roosevelt: The Father of Gun Control

One of the great pieces of unfinished business for the Democratic Party.

by Adam Winkler via The New Republic on December 19, 2012

Jimmy, Rosalynn, and Amy Carter at the Baptist church in Plains, Georgia, 1976.

How Jimmy Carter Lost Evangelical Christians to the Right

The Baptist Georgia governor won evangelical Christian voters in the 1976 presidential election. Next time around, those voters changed sides—for the long haul.

by Chris Lehmann via The Nation on December 30, 2024

Newspapers showcasing the victory of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump

Close Elections Signal a New Gilded Age

Donald Trump’s 2024 win, echoing the Gilded Age, highlights America’s volatile, close elections, partisan divides, and structural barriers shaping politics.

by Bruce J. Schulman via Made By History on December 13, 2024

Collage of Edna Ferber, a still from the film "Giant," and symbols of Texas.

The Carpetbagger Who Saw Texas’s Future

The notion of political realignment in the Lone Star State is older than you think. It goes back to Giant, an acidic novel by Edna Ferber.

by Chris Vognar via The Atlantic on December 9, 2024

Political cartoon depicting 1856 presidential candidates

The First Punch

There are uncanny parallels between the elections of 2024 and 1856, with one big exception: in 1856, it was the political left that was on the offensive.

by Matthew Karp via Harper’s on December 5, 2024

Children smile and wave flags at a Farmer-Labor Party demonstration, circa 1920.

The Rise and Fall of Midwest Populism

When the Minnesota’s Farmer-Labor Party merged into the Democratic machine, its populist energies were chewed up and spat out.

by Patrick Greeley via Jacobin on November 11, 2024

Democratic donkey necktie.

The Consultants Who Lost Democrats the Working Class

The rivalry of two men tells the story of how Democrats fumbled with their traditional base—and how they can win again.

by Ben Metzner via The New Republic on October 15, 2024

Harris carved in stone next to Mount Rushmore.

Kamala Harris Must Grapple with America’s Founding Fathers

To achieve a new political settlement, she has to resolve a tension dating from the Revolution.

by Justin H. Vassallo via New Statesman on October 12, 2024

Black churchgoers attending a sermon.

Democrats Can’t Rely on the Black Church Anymore

The path to winning the Black vote no longer runs through the church door.

by Daniel K. Williams via The Atlantic on September 18, 2024

A drawing of two people speaking with a third person's head listening between them.

Diverging Majority

Demography has not managed to be destiny in the past half-century—but predictions of a millenarian shift have not lost their appeal.

by Rick Perlstein, Geraldo Cadava via The Baffler on September 3, 2024

People holding antiwar signs at the 1968 Democratic National Convention.

A Brief History of the Democratic Party

The Democratic Party, and the US political system as a whole, is a very strange beast.

by Doug Henwood, Adam Hilton via Jacobin on August 6, 2024

William McKinley

Trump Is Right About McKinley

“The most underrated president” was a model of successful governance in a world in flux.

by Sean Durns via The American Conservative on August 1, 2024

Thomas Nast’s 1874 elephant illustration.

What History Tells Us Might Happen to the Republican Party

The signs that precede the crumbling of American political parties and the creation of new ones.

by Lindsay M. Chervinsky via The Bulwark on July 31, 2024

The Little White School House in Ripon, Wisconsin.

Looking Back at Wisconsin's Long History with the Republican Party

The one-room schoolhouse that was one of the birthplaces of the GOP.

by Chuck Quirmbach via WUWM on July 13, 2024

Collage of American events in the 1990s.

The Nutty Nineties

What was in the water circa 1992?

by Katrina Gulliver via Law & Liberty on July 9, 2024

Montage of 1980s Yuppies and a Trump rally.

How 1980s Yuppies Gave Us Donald Trump

If it weren’t for the young urban professionals of the 1980s, we’d never have MAGA.

by Tom McGrath via Politico Magazine on June 4, 2024

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