Essay on American Presidency General Elections in Alabama Since 2000

Introduction

Since 2000, Alabama's majority presidential vote has skewed to the Republican Party. In 2000, George W. Bush was the Republican Candidate and he garnered 62.1% of Alabama's vote while the Democratic Party candidate garnered 34.4% (270towin, n.p.). In 2004, the same pattern emerged in the presidential election upon the re-election of George W. Bush. This time, however, the popularity of the Republican Party had dropped to 60.6% as the popularity of the Democratic Party rose to 38.4% from the previous election. Despite the increase of the support for the Democratic Party, the support for the Republican Party was still overwhelming. In 2008, 60.3% of the voters supported the Republican Party candidate John McCain and only 38.7% supported the Democratic Party candidate. In 2012, the same pattern of being a Republican Party stronghold emerged. This time, the support of the party increased to 62.5% in support of Mitt Romney. The Democratic Party candidate's popularity decreased to 36.8%, even if it was already low, to begin with. The 2016 presidential elections saw an unprecedented decline in the popularity of the Republican Party candidate since 2000. Donald Trump, the Republican Party candidate garnered 56.5% of the Alabama vote and was followed closely by the Democratic Party candidate, Hilary Clinton, with 41.6% vote.

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From the statistics above, it is clear that Alabama is a Republican Party stronghold in presidential elections. Alabama was a Democratic Party stronghold before the 1960s when the stakes changed. The shift was a response to the uneasiness associated with the civil rights legislation which was passed in the 1960s. The white conservative voter shunned this legislation and shifted to the more conservative Republican Party in response. Since then, Republican Party presidential candidates have won the elections by over 20 points as showed by the most recent 2016 election where Donald Trump had a close to 28% margin against Hilary Clinton (Hughes, n.p.).

The staunch support of the core beliefs of the Republican Party is the upper-middle-class individuals and white evangelicals aged above 45 years. They normally vote homogeneously and are mainly of Caucasian ethnic background, especially those living in the hinterland and rural Alabama. This group of individuals comprises more than 65% of the voter population in Alabama (Hughes, n.d). They are strongly opposed to the Affordable Healthcare Act, which is a government run system. Instead of this system, they prefer a healthcare plan in which individuals can manage their personal healthcare costs through Medical Savings Accounts and that this service should be offered to all workers. Part of the reason why the Republican Party supporters in Alabama have been labeled as traditional is that they stand with the traditional definition of marriage, which is that marriage is a union between a man and woman (Skocpol and Vanessa 118). They believe that the government should make laws based on the beliefs of the citizens and as such, the Democratic Party's support of gay marriages goes against this definition, hence their opposition for the party's candidates. Regarding immigration, the majority of Alabama's citizens are opposed to immigration since it stands against the needs for national security especially regarding those people who enter the country illegally. In terms of gun control, the majority of Alabamans support the individual's right to bear arms. Regarding abortion, Alabamans believe that an unborn child has an individual right to life, which is guaranteed in the Fourteenth Amendment. They are more so opposed to the use of public funds in funding abortion efforts such as Planned Parenthood.

Despite being a noncompetitive state since the mid-1960s, the future of Alabama's presidential elections is likely to assume a swing state status. The wealthier and better educated Republican supporters living in Alabama cities and suburbs are increasingly shifting from being conservatives to liberals. The reason for this shift is the extremism of Republican Party candidates at the presidential, Senate and Congress level candidates (Morone and Rogan 18). For instance, President Trump's support for outlawing homosexuality, deporting immigrants, and reinstating state-led school prayers as well as homophobic, misogynist, and racist accusations made these liberals uneasy hence the shift from the predominant support of the Republican Party to stronger affiliations with the Democratic Party. In addition, the African American population in Alabama, which is inclined to vote for the Democratic Party candidates by 84%, is growing bolder in support for the party's candidate. The voters of the Black Belt region in Alabama are African American and they make up about 13% of Alabama's total population. They are spread across 18 counties including Dallas, Pike, Hale, and Montgomery among others. Unlike in the past elections, the election of Donald Trump into presidency has pushed many to proclaim their open support for the Democratic Party's policies (Akeowo, n.p.). Among their issues are economic equality, social equality, reforms to the American Justice System, and the welfare state. Unlike the supporters of the Republican Party who seek to minimize the intervention of the government, these groups encourage the intervention of the government in the economy. Moreover, the state will be more competitive in future since the young population in Alabama is not aligned with the conservative Republican values. The Democratic Party will use these opportunities in future to dig themselves out of the state's unshaken support for the opposition, and they will begin this campaign with the young, well educated, and suburban voters.

References

270towin. Alabama electoral votes. https://www.270towin.com/states/Alabama. Accessed Mar.2017.

Akeowo, A.,. How does it feel to be Doug Jones Supporter in Alabama. https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/how-does-it-feel-to-be-a-doug-jones-supporter-in-alabama Accessed Aug.2017.

Hughes, David. How Alabama's missteps turned Alabama blue. Web 2017 Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/how-republican-missteps-turned-alabama-blue-89050Morone, James A., and Rogan Kersh. By the people: Debating American government. Oxford University Press, 2016.

Skocpol, Theda, and Vanessa Williamson. The Tea Party and the remaking of Republican conservatism. Oxford University Press, 2016.