Quote from smilingsynic:
On matters of race, conservatives opposed integration and supported segregation, and from 1865 to the late 1940's, Democrats were conservatives on race.
The big shift took place when Truman integrated the armed forces, a decision that sparked the rise of the Dixiecrats. The move in the South away from the Democratic party began.
The move in the South away from the (national) Democratic party escalated in 1965, when Lyndon Johnson signed civil rights legislation. Ever since then, the Republican party has grown in the South, largely because they adopted the (psedo) racist party platform once held by the Democrats.
On social matters, Democrats have become much more liberal since WW2, and Republicans, once progressive on race, have grown much more conservative.
The population aged and people moved away from the left, still are...