Southern politics are now just politics?
The South has historically been a politically distinct region. This distinctive character — associated for a long time with strong, conservative Democratic affiliation — has been really important in explaining how the Democratic presidential nomination calendar has evolved. Super Tuesday was initially pushed to strengthen Southern influence and give an advantage to moderate candidates. South Carolina itself was moved to a more prominent spot in the primary calendar because many of its Democratic primary voters are African American — unlike in the traditional early states of New Hampshire and Iowa.
But what does this mean for Republicans? The South has been a Republican stronghold for most of the twentieth century, though Democratic presidential candidates have pulled off occasional victories. And South Carolina hasn't been a distinctly regional primary for Republicans (though Georgian Newt Gingrich won the GOP primary there in 2012). Nikki Haley doesn’t seem to be enjoying much home state (or region) advantage there. And Trump, who is from New York, is consistently popular in the South.
The larger point here is probably that, now that it’s generally in the Republican column, the South has been much less exemplary of unique regional politics, and instead has similar issue positions and priorities as other Republican strongholds.
—Julia Azari, 538 contributor
