Three Trends Over Eight Presidential Elections, 1980–2008: Toward the Emergence of a Democratic Majority Realignment?
The purpose of this article is to present an overarching analysis of key trends in presidential politics over the past 28 years, 1980 to 2008. The three trends that will be looked at are: the ending of party dealignment but the still continuing inability of either the Democrats or the Republicans to build an enduring majority party coalition, even after some lopsided elections; a geographic realignment that made the south solidly Republican and the northeast and pacific coast states solidly Democratic; and the volatility that took place in loyalties of major politically relevant social and demographic groups. Most of the longitudinal analysis rests on data and analysis from articles on each of these eight elections that appeared in Political Science Quarterly,1