SOUTHERN CONSERVATISM: CONSTITUENCY OPINION AND CONGRESSIONAL VOTING

Abstract

The author of this paper seeks to explain the consistently conservative record of Southern Democrats in Congress. V. O. Key attributed this conservatism to the low level of voting by the more liberal working class in the South and the much higher voting rate of the more conservative middle class. The present author offers two additional explanations: the unusual distribution of attitudes in the South as compared to the rest of the nation, and the conservatism of the Southerners most likely to communicate with Congressmen.