1. Voting Behaviour: Alignment, Dealignment, Realignment

2. Question for the lesson
Explain the difference between aligned and de-aligned voters in the USA. (10)

3. Alignment
Partisan alignment is when voting is based principally around party identification; in the UK this is known as tribalism.
In the US, a famous study in entitled The American Voter, argued that this was the primary focus of American voters too; it became known as ‘the Michigan model’.
Partisanship is a long-term factor.
Can you think of any examples of partisan alignment in American history?

4. Alignment (II): The ‘solid south’
The ‘solid south’, the period after Reconstruction when the Democrats could rely on the support of the south, was an example of partisan alignment
The Democrats had supported the south in the Reconstruction era, arguing for ‘states’ rights’ which was coded language for racial segregation at one end, or outright segregation at the other
Governor Ross Barnett of Mississippi (right) was an example of a segregationist Democrat towards the end of this period ne

5. Realignment: The ‘solid south’
It used to be said that the south was so partisan it would vote for a ‘yellow dog’ as long as it was a Democrat.
After the 1960 Presidential election, this ‘solidity’ broke down as the Democrats embraced the Civil Rights Movement.
This is not an example merely of dealignment – when voters simply stop voting for their traditional choice with no clear switch to another as a group.
Instead, it is an example of realignment – where a voter group switches allegiance from one party en bloc to another, in this case the Republicans.
At most Presidential elections since, the Democrats have struggled to make inroads in the south.
What were the exceptions and why?

6. Dealignment?
Dealignment is a more basic process, where voters cease to support one party but don’t switch to another with same enthusiasm
In America such ‘non-aligned’ voters are often known as independents
Independents are taken to be critical in US election cycles as they are more likely to vote on perceived ‘valence’ issues
Dealignment as a process was, many scholars felt, supposed to have taken place in the 1960s and early 1970s when fewer votes when surveyed described themselves as Republican or Democrat
Split-ticket voting – another index of dealignment – also ‘rose sharply from 1952 to 1980’ reaching 34% (President and House candidates) in that year (McKay, American Politics and Society)

7. The return of partisanship?
Shapiro and Bafumi argue that the decline in party identification was overplayed and that there has been a return to partisanship
That this exists at the congressional level is obvious through the phenomena of divided government and gridlock
This is a longer-term phenomenon however than just the Obama administration – according to the graphs provided by Shapiro and Bafumi and McKay it stretches back to the early 1980s
Why?
‘Values’ issues
End of the Cold War
Rise of neoliberalism?

8. Task: Realigning elections
Choose one of
The 1932 Presidential election
The 1980 Presidential election
The 1994 Midterm elections
The 2008 Presidential election
The 2012 Presidential election
And make a brief case as to why it could be considered a ‘realigning election’ in US politics. You only need to have about one minute’s worth of material, so just make some bullet points