List of 1968 Swing States - Aftermath

Aftermath

Nixon's victory is often considered a realigning election in American politics. From 1932 to 1968, the Democratic Party was obviously the majority party. During that time period, the Democrats had won seven out of nine presidential elections, and their agenda gravely affected that undertaken by the Republican Eisenhower administration. The election of 1968 reversed the situation completely. From 1968 until 2008, the Republicans won seven out of ten presidential elections, and its policies clearly affected those enacted by the Democratic Clinton administration.

The election began a long-term realignment in Democratic Party support, especially in the South. Nationwide, the bitter splits over civil rights, the new left, the Vietnam War, and other "culture wars" were slow to heal. It was no longer automatic for all white Southerners to vote Democratic for president, as Republicans made major gains in suburban areas and areas filled with Northern migrants. The rural Democratic "courthouse cliques" in the South lost power. While Democrats controlled local and state politics in the South, Republicans usually won the presidential vote. In 1968 Humphrey won less than 10% of the white Southern vote, with 2/3 of his vote in the region coming from blacks, who now were voting in full strength.

From 1968 until 2008, only two Democrats were elected President, both native Southerners - Jimmy Carter of Georgia and Bill Clinton of Arkansas. Not until 2008 did a Northern Democrat, Barack Obama, win a presidential election.

Another important result of the 1968 election was that it led to several reforms in how the Democratic Party chose its presidential nominees. In 1969, the McGovern-Fraser Commission adopted a set of rules for the states to follow in selecting convention delegates. These rules reduced the influence of party leaders on the nominating process and provided greater representation for minorities, women, and youth. The reforms led most states to adopt laws requiring primary elections, instead of party leaders, to choose delegates.

After 1968 the only way to win the party's presidential nomination was through the primary process; Humphrey turned out to be the last nominee of either major party to win his party's nomination without having directly competed in the primaries.