Editing New Deal coalition (section)

====Reagan Era and the Southern Strategy====
{{See also|Reagan era|Southern Strategy}}

During the [[Presidency of Ronald Reagan]] (1981–1989), Republicans took control of prosperity issues, largely because of the poor performance of [[Presidency of Jimmy Carter|Jimmy Carter]] (1977–1981) in dealing with [[stagflation]]. Reagan's new economic policy of [[neoliberalism]] held that regulation was bad for economic growth and that tax cuts would bring sustained prosperity.<ref>{{cite journal|first1=Monica|last1=Prasad|title=The popular origins of neoliberalism in the Reagan tax cut of 1981|journal=Journal of Policy History|volume=24|number=3|year=2012|pages=351–383}}</ref> In 1994 the Republicans swept control of Congress for the first time since 1952. The response of [[Presidency of Bill Clinton|Democratic President Bill Clinton]] was: “We know big government does not have all the answers. We know there's not a program for every problem....The era of big government is over.”<ref>“State of the Union Address," January 3, 1996.</ref> Clinton went on to cut New Deal-inspired welfare programs and repeal some of the New Deal's restrictions on banks.<ref>{{cite book|editor-first1=Michael|editor-last1=Nelson|display-editors=etal|title=42: Inside the Presidency of Bill Clinton|publisher=Cornell University Press|year=2016|page=15}}</ref><ref>Kazin, p. 290.</ref> Clinton largely accepted the neoliberal argument, thereby abandoning the New Deal coalition's claim to the prosperity issue.<ref>{{cite journal|first1=Gregory|last1=Albo|title=Neoliberalism from Reagan to Clinton|journal=Monthly Review|volume=52|number=11|year=2001|pages=81–89|url=http://cf.linnbenton.edu/artcom/social_science/clarkd/upload/neo.pdf}}</ref>

While most Northerners supported the original civil rights movement, many conservative [[blue collar]] voters disliked the goal of racial integration and became fearful of rising urban crime. The Republicans, first under [[Richard Nixon]], then later under Reagan, were able to corral these voters with promises to be tough on law and order. The votes of blue-collar workers contributed heavily to the Republican landslides of 1972 and 1984, and to a lesser extent 1980 and 1988.<ref>{{cite journal|first1=Joe|last1=Merton|title=The politics of symbolism: Richard Nixon's appeal to White ethnics and the frustration of realignment 1969–72|journal=European Journal of American Culture|volume=26|number=3|year=2008|pages=181–198}}</ref><ref>Richard Moss, ''Creating the New Right Ethnic in 1970s America: The Intersection of Anger and Nostalgia'' (Rowman & Littlefield, 2017) [https://www.amazon.com/Creating-Right-Ethnic-1970s-America/dp/1611479371/ excerpt].</ref> At the presidential level, the GOP made inroads among urban, middle-class White Southerners as early as 1928 and later in 1952. Starting in 1980, Reagan pulled together both middle-class and working-class White Southerners. At the state and local level the GOP made steady gains in both White groups until reaching majority status in most of the South by 2000.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Earl|last1=Black|first2=Merle|last2=Black|title=The Rise of Southern Republicans|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=2002|pages=2–11}}</ref>

Scholars debate exactly why the New Deal coalition collapsed so completely. Most emphasize a [[Southern Strategy]] by Republicans to appeal to a backlash against Democratic national support for civil rights.<ref>See {{cite book|first1=Angie|last1=Maxwell|first2=Todd|last2=Shields|title=The long southern strategy: How chasing White voters in the South changed American politics|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2019}}</ref> However, a minority of scholars consider a demographic change in addition to race. They argue that the collapse of cotton agriculture, the growth of a suburban middle class, and the large-scale arrival of Northern migrants outweighed the racist factor. Both viewpoints agree that the politicization of religious issues important to White Southern Protestants (i.e. opposition to [[abortion in the United States|abortion]] and [[LGBT rights in the United States|LGBT rights]]) in the "[[Bible Belt]]" made for a strong Republican appeal.<ref>{{cite book|editor-first1=Glen|editor-last1=Feldman|title=Painting Dixie Red: When, Where, Why, and How the South Became Republican|publisher=University Press of Florida|year=2011|pages=1–12}}</ref>