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4 - Searching for a Majority, the Rise of Conservatives, and Second Losses

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

Howard L. Reiter  and
Jeffrey M. Stonecash
Howard L. Reiter
Affiliation:
University of Connecticut
Jeffrey M. Stonecash
Affiliation:
Syracuse University
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Summary

OVERVIEW

Beginning with the elections of 1932, Democrats won six of the next eight presidential elections. From 1932 through 1962, Democrats held the majority in the House and for fourteen of sixteen elections they held the Senate. The Republican losses in the 1930s and 1940s created the disagreements within the Republican Party that were discussed in the preceding chapter. Persistent losses also presented the party with the need to reassess their situation in the Northeast. Three issues were important. First, the party had experienced a decline not only outside the Northeast, but also within its northeastern historical base. This diminished support in their historical base suggested that the party had significant problems. Second, even if the party was able to rebuild its strength in the Northeast, the region was slowly declining as a percentage of the nation's population and as a percentage of Republican votes. It was providing fewer Electoral College votes and House seats. Rebuilding support within the region might not pay off enough to make it worthwhile. Third, a conflict was developing about the value of continuing to regard the Northeast, with its relatively more moderate delegation in Congress, as the base of the party. The northeastern wing of the party had been its most conservative up until the 1930s and the staunch core of the party. As noted earlier, Members of Congress from this region began to move to a more moderate position in the 1930s.

Type
Chapter
Information
Counter Realignment
Political Change in the Northeastern United States
 , pp. 55 - 80
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2011

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