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Many predominantly white and rural areas in Appalachia have more registered Democrats than Republicans. But they overwhelmingly vote Republican.

Why do people there not change their registrations to match with their views? I know much of Appalachia was ancestrally Democratic, but I feel that people would change their registration.

Rick Smith
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Michael Mormon
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  • Registering with a specific party is only needed in states where parties restrict voting in their primaries to voters who have registered with that party. If one has a spouse, it can make sense for one to vote in the Democratic primary and the other to vote in the Republican primary. – David Hammen Oct 27 '20 at 12:30
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    @GCCampbell - Overly speculative. Just because my wife and I intentionally vote in opposing primaries does not mean that that is a widespread tactic. – David Hammen Oct 27 '20 at 15:27
  • Do you have figures? What percentage of the population are we talking? Are they representative of the wider population? – Stuart F Oct 05 '21 at 20:17

2 Answers2

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The Democratic Party and Republican Party traded ideological places. The Democrats used to be the conservative party, the Republican party used to be the liberal party. The transition happened gradually, first at the federal level and later at the state and local level. Appalachia has historically been conservative. But, the party that represents that ideological leaning has changed over time.

Republican Presidential nominee Goldwater's "Southern Strategy" is commonly viewed as a turning point, but it was starting to happen in the late 1950s and had mostly run its course by the late 1990s. This process is called "realignment" and came to Appalachia, like a lot of national trends, on the late side.

Also Appalachia's Democrats were disproportionately led by private sector, blue collar union members, especially mine workers. As the mining industry has collapsed, and as private sector unionization rates in Appalachia have fallen even further, the core institutional base of the Democratic party collapsed, and national tends in cultural affiliation with the respective parties (which has seen non-college educated white voters trend Republican and college educated white voters who are rare in Appalachia trend Democratic) gained a larger role.

Voter registration is a lagging indicator. Many people register to vote as teenagers or in their early twenties and never change it again, even as they become senior citizens, especially in places like Appalachia where people are less likely to move to new places as adults. If you don't bother to vote in primary elections anyway, there is no compelling reason to do so.

ohwilleke
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Because the Democrat party controls local and regional politics, not just in Appalachia, but in a lot of southern states. This is left over from the civil war. In those areas, the Democrat primary is the election, so people register Democrat there to vote in the primary.

So while the national Democratic party has changed considerably in ideology since the 1950's, local politics have continued relatively unchanged. And local Democrats tend to be very conservative - the last remnants of the 'dixiecrats'.

Remember... George Wallace was a Democrat.

tj1000
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    What year are you writing this from? Democrats control local and regional politics in the South? In 2020? – divibisan Oct 28 '20 at 02:38
  • I'm writing it in 2020, from the state of KY. Here, the Democratic party still plays a major role in local and regional politics, even though the state votes conservative nationally. This is also true of many southern states. – tj1000 Oct 28 '20 at 13:46
  • @fj1000 Realignment has mostly trickled down to the state and local level by now. It hasn't entirely run its course, but it is pretty far advanced. – ohwilleke Nov 04 '20 at 19:51