Why isnt the south more politically competitive

[Proud liberal 80]

Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and South Carolina have more African Americans than solid blue states. I just don’t understand it, you would think that vote would balance the racist conservative white vote. And you would think that African Americans in those states would understand the importance in voting and what happened to their grandparent not to long ago.

[Xipe Totec]

1. Gerrymandering & Voter Suppression?

Nah. Couldn't be that simple, right?

[DemRage]

8. Since gerrymandering doesn't effect senate races or presidential races, it likely isn't htat simple

[Thor_MN]

12. It does, if in place long enough.

Gerrymandering can't directly affect state-wide or national races, but if it keeps one party in power in state, voter suppression becomes very effective in blocking groups that tend to vote Democratic.

[Xipe Totec]

14. Carefully avoided the 2nd statement - voter suppression. Curious.

You have a dismissive response for that one?

Plus, the question is about the South, not the senate. There's congressional seats which are subject to Gerrymandering.

[exboyfil]

2. Guns, gays, and abortion

0/3 for what is important to most of these folks. Throw in a desire to not see a state church, and you have little chance to break through.

[nycbos]

3. "if you can convince the lowest white man he is better than...

... the best colored man he won't notice you picking his pockets."

-LBJ

[Willie Pep]

4. These are my guesses.

1. Southern whites are more uniformly pro-Republican than northern whites so they vote en bloc for the GOP and this swamps the black Democratic vote.

2. The Republicans have made it harder for people to vote in those states and this disproportionately impacts African-Americans.

3. The Democrats have not done enough to improve GOTV among African-Americans and people who should be Democratic voters such as working-class and poor whites.

4. Related to number 4, the Democratic Party has allowed state parties in the South to atrophy thinking that we could not win in the South so why waste resources there.

[Cattledog]

5. African Americans vote a solid 95% Democratic.

Are you seriously saying African Americans are ignorant of their history.

[Proud liberal 80]

6. We vote Democratic when we vote

But unfortunately in a lot of elections we don’t vote. And I am saying knowing our history that we would make sure to vote. Current Voter suppression tactics are a factor, but that should motivate us even more.

And yes I am, I am constantly reminding my non voting cousins the importance of voting.

[marylandblue]

7. Why don't they vote?

[Proud liberal 80]

9. A lot of reasons

But the bottom line is it’s not thinking their vote matters, laziness, ignorance, and not being motivated. I see it in my relatives and others in the communities. You guys can get rude and snippy with me all you want. But African American voter turn out is a huge problem and one of the main reasons trump is POTUS and republicans are in control of everything.

[MaryMagdaline]

11. They voted in New South governors in the

70's. Then Reagan ignited SOutherners to band with northern conservatives. I lived in Georgia; saw moderate whites go right wing all the way, including on economics when they once were populist. Revenue sharing made the whites see that they would be taken care of by northern conservatives and did not need to hang with Dems who became the black man's party. Lots of factors but when we got the black vote we did not increase their prosperity so they might have thought "why bother?"

[marylandblue]

13. I'm not one to get snippy

It is a problem. I donated to an African American outreach operation in Virginia this year and seems to have made a difference. Democratic Party needs its own dedicated operation. Still, I think this past year might have motivated some. Do you see any difference at all?

[ClarendonDem]

10. Probably lots of reasons

Certainly there's a lot of conservative white folks in the South. Voter suppression and gerrymandering impact congressional results, but not senate/presidential (well, voter suppression does), but that doesn't explain why Trump wins Alabama by 20 points. I'm assuming Dems just aren't turning out to vote.