The first election in which the D was left-wing and the R was right-wing

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I might say as recent as 1980 thinking about it again. Ronald Reagan was the very first true  conservative to ever be in the White House.

If you think that, then you have a very odd definition of conservative.

[barfbag]

I might say as recent as 1980 thinking about it again. Ronald Reagan was the very first true  conservative to ever be in the White House.

If you think that, then you have a very odd definition of conservative.

I meant conservative as it's defined today.

[Stranger in a strange land]

1896.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I might say as recent as 1980 thinking about it again. Ronald Reagan was the very first true  conservative to ever be in the White House.

If you think that, then you have a very odd definition of conservative.

I meant conservative as it's defined today.

How pray tell, by any modern definition of conservative, would Grover Cleveland fall short of that standard?  Well other than the fact he wasn't a warmonger who wanted America intervening outside its borders.

[barfbag]

I might say as recent as 1980 thinking about it again. Ronald Reagan was the very first true  conservative to ever be in the White House.

If you think that, then you have a very odd definition of conservative.

I meant conservative as it's defined today.

How pray tell, by any modern definition of conservative, would Grover Cleveland fall short of that standard?  Well other than the fact he wasn't a warmonger who wanted America intervening outside its borders.

Right that isn't something I would consider to be true conservatism. The issues are so different today from over a century ago that I wouldn't compare things.

[buritobr]

In few words
1896 was the first time in which the Democrats were on the left and the Republicans were on the right but this aligment was reversed in some elections after that
1932 was the first election of a non-interrupted sequence of elections in which the Democrats were on the left and the Republicans were on the right

[I Will Not Be Wrong]

Obviously the 1896 election.

[buritobr]

So, 1896 was the first.

But, maybe, Franklin Roosevelt was more important than Willian Bryan in bringing the Democratic Party permanently to the left.

Even after Willian Bryan both the democrats and the republicans had progressive and conservative wings.

[pbrower2a]

1920?

[SPC]

I'm surprised nobody has suggested 1872 (although 1896 was the turning point between when it was an exception and the norm)

[I Will Not Be Wrong]

I totally forgot about the election of 1872!!!
Yep, that would be it.

[BaconBacon96]

Between 1872-1952 it varied from election to election.

[buritobr]

How did the party of the slave owners become the party of the working class?

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

How did the party of the slave owners become the party of the working class?

Those slave owners liked to think of themselves as working class yeoman farmers tragically burdened with owning slaves because of circumstances beyond their control.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

How did the party of the slave owners become the party of the working class?

Because at the time the going assumption was that continuing slavery would protect them from the blacks moving north and taking their jobs away. In fact it was only the spectre of slavery being foisted on the north caming to the fore in the 1850's, did enough of them shift to the other way of thinking, that keeping slavery would be more of a risk then abolishing it with regards to creating more compeition, thus allowing for Lincoln to win. And Lincoln himself ran on a more moderate platform of just keeping it out of the territories and as seen in the Lincoln movie he had to tie abolition in with the war in order to effect the abolition.

It is also the case that the opposition was dominated by highly elitist aristocratic types, though the Whigs certainly did better than the Federalist, but not by much. A lot of poor farmers and working class types in places like Eastern TN and KY were Whig though on the other hand.

The Democratic Party has always sough to cast itself as the party of "the common man" and was always a rather populist outfit thusly, as well as majoritarian. If the common man was racist then of course the party of populism over elitism would reflect that view.

[RosettaStoned]

 1980 is the correct answer, in modern terms.

[I Will Not Be Wrong]

1980 is the correct answer, in modern terms.

Eh, Carter wasn't really that liberal, ever read his diary? 1984  would probably be better, and even then....

[Mordecai]

1980 is the correct answer, in modern terms.

Carter was a Southern conservative. Why do you think he and Ted Kennedy hated each other so much?

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

1980 is the correct answer, in modern terms.

Uh.... Like at least half of all elections before that? I mean if you're not gonna recognize 1896, then there are still about a million other freakin' examples. Just even frickin' 1972. McGovern's ideology doesn't now count as conservative or something. Hell, 1964 would be a bad answer but it'd at least cover a bit more ground than frickin' 1980.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

I'm surprised nobody has suggested 1872 (although 1896 was the turning point between when it was an exception and the norm)

generally Greeley had been left-wing, but by 1872 could call him that on the major issues of the day?

[I Will Not Be Wrong]

I'm surprised nobody has suggested 1872 (although 1896 was the turning point between when it was an exception and the norm)

Why 1872?  Can Tilden be called left-wing, even in relation to Hayes?

We are talking in relation to the gold standard, Grant was conservative on it, Tilden was liberal on it.

[Mechaman]

I'm surprised nobody has suggested 1872 (although 1896 was the turning point between when it was an exception and the norm)

generally Greeley had been left-wing, but by 1872 could call him that on the major issues of the day?

If you think about how Reconstruction was applied, via military rule that empowered corrupt Republican regimes in the South, there is actually a fairly convincing argument that he was the more liberal candidate.  As well, there is the argument about the corruptness of the Grant Administration.

There is a reason why they were called the "Liberal Republicans" instead of say the "Conservative Republicans."

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

I'm surprised nobody has suggested 1872 (although 1896 was the turning point between when it was an exception and the norm)

Why 1872?  Can Tilden be called left-wing, even in relation to Hayes?

We are talking in relation to the gold standard, Grant was conservative on it, Tilden was liberal on it.

I'm pretty sure Tilden was a "Bourbon" and both Hayes and Tilden were in favor of sound money. There were in fact very few differences between the candidates.

[I Will Not Be Wrong]

I'm surprised nobody has suggested 1872 (although 1896 was the turning point between when it was an exception and the norm)

Why 1872?  Can Tilden be called left-wing, even in relation to Hayes?

We are talking in relation to the gold standard, Grant was conservative on it, Tilden was liberal on it.

I'm pretty sure Tilden was a "Bourbon" and both Hayes and Tilden were in favor of sound money. There were in fact very few differences between the candidates.

Oops, I meant the 1872 liberal Republican candidate, sorry.

[Illuminati Blood Drinker]

1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, and 1984 are all contenders.