Republicans Face Growing Difficulties In the South And a Shrinking White Vote

The post mortems in the wake of the 2012 elections continue and few of the bode well for the long term prospects of the Republican Party in its current posture as a captive of the Christofascists and their Tea Party cousins.  Indeed, by embracing the Christofascists and the Tea Party, the GOP seems to have largely alienated everyone else.  Add that reality to demographic changes taking place and over the course of time even the reliable South - the GOP's new Confederacy, if you will - may not be a sure bet for the GOP.  Frankly, I don't feel the slightest shred of sympathy for the GOP because years ago, the party made the conscious decision to sell its soul to the far right, especially the Christofascist elements.  After that, moderates and non-religious extremists fled the party with the result being that the party establishment finds itself saddled with escapees of the insane asylum who will not be easily displaced.  A piece in the Washington Post looks at developments in the South that ought to cause GOP party bosses nightmares.  What is especially gratifying is that the GOP prediction that the Democrat embrace of gay marriage would sink the Democrats has blown up in the face of the GPO naysayers. Here are article excerpts:

Election Day in the South told a newer and more surprising story: The nation’s first black president finished more strongly in the region than any other Democratic nominee in three decades, underscoring a fresh challenge for Republicans who rely on Southern whites as their base of national support.

Obama won Virginia and Florida and narrowly missed victory in North Carolina. But he also polled as well in Georgia as any Democrat since Jimmy Carter, grabbed 44 percent of the vote in deep-red South Carolina and just under that in Mississippi — despite doing no substantive campaigning in any of those states.

Much of the post-election analysis has focused on the demographic crisis facing Republicans among Hispanic voters, particularly in Texas. But the results across other parts of the South, where Latinos remain a single-digit minority, point to separate trends among blacks and whites that may also have big implications for the GOP’s future. 

A combination of a growing black population, urban expansion, oceanfront development and in-migration from other regions has opened up increasing opportunities for Democrats in those states. 

In every Southern state except Louisiana, the population of African Americans grew substantially faster than that of whites over the past decade. The growth is fueled by black retirees from the north and rising numbers of young, well-educated blacks in prosperous cities such as Atlanta, Norfolk, Charlotte and Charleston, S.C.

The influx also includes fast-growing, but smaller, Hispanic populations and an infusion of less-conservative outsiders attracted to popular coastal areas. Together, the shifts are making the electoral landscape from Virginia and the Carolinas look increasingly like the swing state of Florida. .  .  .  .  The proportion of white voters in the South is also shrinking.

Prominent conservatives in the region are acutely aware of the danger posed by the trends. “We’ve got to go out and sell our ideas not just to the choir, but the whole church,” said Henry Barbour, a Republican National Committee member from Mississippi and a top Romney fundraiser (and nephew of former governor Haley Barbour). “We’re not going to get 25 percent of the black vote in four years, but we’ve got to figure out which African Americans share our core beliefs.”

But the issues [gay marriage and gay rights] had little apparent impact on Obama’s support within the black community. Black pastors — some of whom had preached against gay marriage in the past — rallied to the president. Romney also hit a number of sour notes with minorities during the campaign, including his apparent suggestion that blacks who support Obama want “more free stuff” from government.

By the closing stage of the campaign, gay marriage had largely disappeared from the conversation among black voters. “We don’t see any of that,” said Tiara Moore, 23, a biology student, after a day of canvassing before the election at historically black Hampton University in Virginia. “They talk about health care and student loans.”

“We were all basically stunned at the results,” Bryant said. “It is very clear that the direction of the Republican Party — the conservative movement — is necessarily going to have to include the changing face of America and address the concerns of minorities, blacks, Latinos, and even younger white women, all young people. . . . It has to happen or we’re going to be insignificant.”

Do not expect the Christofascists to yield to reality.  The GOP made its bed with them and will now have to live with the consequences.  The GOP civil war will be entertaining to watch.