Long County, Georgia

[bgwah]

What's up with this county in 1960?



It's the >70% R county in the southeast, far more Republican than any of its neighbors.

Why it's especially strange is the 1964 map:



Now it's an >80% D county, far more Democratic than it's surroundings...?

It was also >80% D in 1956:





Is there any reason for it being so Republican in 1960? Could this be a typo (the D and R numbers accidentally reversed)?

[Nym90]

Probably an inversion of the numbers, though it's possible it was just really anti-Catholic for some reason (but not strongly anti civil rights, unless blacks started being able to vote there in 1964).

[minionofmidas]

Note that four of Nixon's eleven counties flipped in 1964.

I wondered about this very question somewhere...sometime...years and years ago...on this very forum. But didn't find a really satisfactory answer.
Don't try to find anything in modern-day demographic data - the county's population's mushroomed like all hell recently, meaning the people who voted there in 1964 have been submerged.
But yeah, one can only assume a typo or some civil rights / general opposition to Georgia politics thing. Is 1948 available for paying members?

[minionofmidas]

here

[nclib]

bump with the top county swings being posted

1960: Nixon 76.4%
1964: Johnson 84.5%

1964: Highest Dem swing by far in the nation. This has got to be a typo.

Long, GA 121.62%
Washington, ME 73.68%
Kauai, HI 73.01%
Orange, VT 72.46%
Windsor, VT 68.86%

[nclib]

Also, Long, GA had the 2nd highest GOP swing in 1928, the 8th highest Dem swing in 1932, the highest GOP swing (by far) in 1960, and the highest Dem swing (by far) in 1964.

Clearly anti-Catholicism. After all, it may not be a typo.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

It is a also a Wallace county.


There is a general dynamic of voters who defected in 1928, being more pro-New Deal, thus they stayed loyal in 1948, defected in 1928 and 1960 over Catholicism and defected to the populist Segregationist Wallace in 1968.

I would assume that Truman won this county?

[America's Sweetheart ❤/𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕭𝖔𝖔𝖙𝖞 𝖂𝖆𝖗𝖗𝖎𝖔𝖗]

I assume there must have been some extreme anti-Catholicism at play there in 1960, because that's really the only explanation I can come up with for why a county swung almost 122% Democratic even as the state it's located in swung over 30% to Goldwater. either that, or somehow the vote totals have been switched but that doesn't seem to be the case. then again, I'm not sure why such an apparently ardently anti-Catholic county would give a supermajority to a very pro-civil rights Democrat just 4 years later. it's certainly an oddity.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

I assume there must have been some extreme anti-Catholicism at play there in 1960, because that's really the only explanation I can come up with for why a county swung almost 122% Democratic even as the state it's located in swung over 30% to Goldwater. either that, or somehow the vote totals have been switched but that doesn't seem to be the case. then again, I'm not sure why such an apparently ardently anti-Catholic county would give a supermajority to a very pro-civil rights Democrat just 4 years later. it's certainly an oddity.

"What's the Matter With Long County, Georgia?"

[Adam Griffin]

Note that four of Nixon's eleven counties flipped in 1964.

I wondered about this very question somewhere...sometime...years and years ago...on this very forum. But didn't find a really satisfactory answer.
Don't try to find anything in modern-day demographic data - the county's population's mushroomed like all hell recently, meaning the people who voted there in 1964 have been submerged.
But yeah, one can only assume a typo or some civil rights / general opposition to Georgia politics thing. Is 1948 available for paying members?

What I found interesting just looking at the Wikipedia is:

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The county has been creeping in favor of Democrats over the past 3-4 elections (when you look at gubernatorial at least; presidential seems to be mostly flat) and growing at a very fast rate (%) as well. I assumed that this was basically big McMansion growth flowing out of Savannah, but that statistic seemingly refutes it.

I haven't looked to be sure, but I know that the Gullah have increasingly been pushed out effectively of the islands in neighboring McIntosh County. Maybe they're settling in Long? That would explain the modest improvements for Democrats (and the rapid decline in McIntosh likewise) and the seemingly major drop in county income.