1964–D+22.4
1968–R+23.3
1972–R+22.5
1976–D+25.2
What I find interesting/ironic about this is that the 1960s-70s are often considered a high point of tumult and controversy in American history, yet numbers show it was also arguably the low point of political polarization. There was still a very large swing vote despite the incessant violence and depression of the era. It provides an interesting contrast with the 2000s-10s, where political views remain highly polarized and baked in despite facing a lot of the same cultural issues we were facing two generations ago.
Also utterly remarkable is that the NPV swung 38 points from 1956 to 1964 and then 46 points from 1964 to 1972. Almost makes you wonder if any true partisans even existed during those 16 years.
Because polarization in those days wasn't along political party lines, and the Democrats and Republicans each still had Conservative, Moderate, and Liberal factions. Up until the 1980s or so, American Political Parties were coalitions of interest groups that only very vaguely had a unifying ideology.
We've changed how we look at ideology. Today, we see a "liberal" Republican from Vermont because he was pro-choice and a "conservative" Democrat from Arkansas because he was pro-life, but the interest that unified them arguably WAS the ideology, or at least the one that mattered. A more natural political alignment if you ask me.
Hmmm....I might be missing something, but what ideology was that? Both Republicans and Democrats had very healthy, robust conservative and liberal wings that feuded openly throughout most of the 20th Century.
