The Realignment reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Realignment

In political science, electoral realignment is a signficant lasting change in the arrangement of political forces. In American politics, this term is used to refer to a change in the voting blocs that support either side in the two-party system.

Several eras and events are often identified as occasions when realignment took place. They include

• The 1850s and 1860s, when the Whig Party disintegrated and the Republican Party arose.
• The 1890s, when the Republicans made gains as Democrats became identified with a radical populist agenda.
• The Great Depression, when the Democrats gained control strong control of the government.
• The 1994 mid-term elections, when the Republicans took control of Congress.

V.O. Key Jr identified realignments as occuring during "critical elections." Other scholars to cover this matter include Jerome M. Chubb, William H. Flanigan, and Nancy H. Zingale in Partisan Realigment: Voters, Parties, and Government in American History (1980) and James L. Sundquist in Dynamics of the Party System: Alignment and Realignment of Political Parties in the United States.

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