Atlanta's black vote stayed Republican longer than most places

[Joe McCarthy Was Right]

In King's home city of Atlanta, Nixon outpolled Kennedy in black districts, though his 54 percent marked a slip of 12 points from Eisenhower's share in 1956.

https://books.google.com/books?id=jjRNUM3ULukC&pg=PA84&lpg=PA84&dq=%22city+of+atlanta%22+nixon+mcgovern&source=bl&ots=-yh3ItHfFV&sig=ACfU3U1zaQZvIzt1wMMSmbq64QqT5ktrgA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwimtKKn4oziAhXrsFQKHTXoDLoQ6AEwAXoECAgQAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false

Kennedy won Fulton County by 1.7 in 1960, but it was the third worst performance a Democrat has done there in a presidential election. White voters actually led him to victory.

[Some of My Best Friends Are Gay]

How many black people were actually voting in Georgia in 1960, though?

[RINO Tom]

How many black people were actually voting in Georgia in 1960, though?

It's still pretty relevant that the ones who were voted Republican while the Northern Black vote had abandoned the Party of Lincoln decades prior.

[Senator Incitatus]

Is there any data on how Mack Mattingly did with black voters in 1980? He won that election on the strength of his performance in Atlanta.

[Tintrlvr]

How many black people were actually voting in Georgia in 1960, though?

It's still pretty relevant that the ones who were voted Republican while the Northern Black vote had abandoned the Party of Lincoln decades prior.

Not everywhere. There was a black Republican machine in Chester, Pennsylvania that was dominant in the city until the Obama years, e.g. (75% black Chester had three successive Republican mayors continuously from 1996 to 2012). Of course, blacks in Chester had switched to voting Democratic federally earlier, but I bet blacks in Chester voted for Nixon.

[Some of My Best Friends Are Gay]

Is there any data on how Mack Mattingly did with black voters in 1980? He won that election on the strength of his performance in Atlanta.

Based on the county results, I would think he probably won blacks in urban areas and lost them in rural areas, but I'm not really sure. a lot would depend on turnout as well.

[Indy Texas]

IIRC the Georgia GOP, unlike in most other southern states, often ran candidates in the 1960s and 1970s who were relatively moderate on racial issues.

Bo Callaway did reasonably well with black voters when he ran against Lester Maddox (1968). Hal Suit (1970) was one of the more moderate Southern GOP candidates of that era.

[RFayette]

Is there any data on how Mack Mattingly did with black voters in 1980? He won that election on the strength of his performance in Atlanta.

Based on the county results, I would think he probably won blacks in urban areas and lost them in rural areas, but I'm not really sure. a lot would depend on turnout as well.

I doubt that.  Southern urban whites were some of the first white voters in the South to flip to the GOP - look at Ford's performance in Hinds County, MS, for example.  So I'd imagine white voters were pretty right-wing in Atlanta - not to say he didn't do well with African-American voters, but 1980 just seems too late for it to be an outright majority.

[Indy Texas]

Is there any data on how Mack Mattingly did with black voters in 1980? He won that election on the strength of his performance in Atlanta.

Based on the county results, I would think he probably won blacks in urban areas and lost them in rural areas, but I'm not really sure. a lot would depend on turnout as well.

I doubt that.  Southern urban whites were some of the first white voters in the South to flip to the GOP - look at Ford's performance in Hinds County, MS, for example.  So I'd imagine white voters were pretty right-wing in Atlanta - not to say he didn't do well with African-American voters, but 1980 just seems too late for it to be an outright majority.

It would probably be more accurate to describe them as "suburban" whites.

[Senator Incitatus]

Is there any data on how Mack Mattingly did with black voters in 1980? He won that election on the strength of his performance in Atlanta.

Based on the county results, I would think he probably won blacks in urban areas and lost them in rural areas, but I'm not really sure. a lot would depend on turnout as well.

I doubt that.  Southern urban whites were some of the first white voters in the South to flip to the GOP - look at Ford's performance in Hinds County, MS, for example.  So I'd imagine white voters were pretty right-wing in Atlanta - not to say he didn't do well with African-American voters, but 1980 just seems too late for it to be an outright majority.

It's possible, though. Talmadge was a notorious segregationist who unapologetically appealed to racists to win the primary over Zell Miller, who won every metro Atlanta area county. It wouldn't shock me if Mattingly narrowly won black Atlantans. I'm going to assume turnout was majorly low, though.

[Some of My Best Friends Are Gay]

Is there any data on how Mack Mattingly did with black voters in 1980? He won that election on the strength of his performance in Atlanta.

Based on the county results, I would think he probably won blacks in urban areas and lost them in rural areas, but I'm not really sure. a lot would depend on turnout as well.

I doubt that.  Southern urban whites were some of the first white voters in the South to flip to the GOP - look at Ford's performance in Hinds County, MS, for example.  So I'd imagine white voters were pretty right-wing in Atlanta - not to say he didn't do well with African-American voters, but 1980 just seems too late for it to be an outright majority.

It's possible, though. Talmadge was a notorious segregationist who unapologetically appealed to racists to win the primary over Zell Miller, who won every metro Atlanta area county. It wouldn't shock me if Mattingly narrowly won black Atlantans. I'm going to assume turnout was majorly low, though.

Why did Talmadge seemingly overwhelmingly win rural blacks then?

[Senator Incitatus]

Why did Talmadge seemingly overwhelmingly win rural blacks then?

He was Chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee. I would assume he certainly did better with rural black voters (and rural voters generally, controlling for race) – this was also the case in the primary against Miller. Rural blacks had a much stronger interest in his re-election than urban blacks.

Remember, I'm not arguing that Mattingly did win black Atlanta. But it's within the realm of imagination, and it's certainly true that his relative success there won him the race. You can see very clearly how the nomination of a liberal with support from black Atlantans (Wyche Fowler) in 1986 forced Mattingly to rely on more suburban votes and ultimately led to his loss.

I am currently doing more research into the 1980 and '86 races and will update if I find anything of interest.

[pbrower2a]

In King's home city of Atlanta, Nixon outpolled Kennedy in black districts, though his 54 percent marked a slip of 12 points from Eisenhower's share in 1956.

https://books.google.com/books?id=jjRNUM3ULukC&pg=PA84&lpg=PA84&dq=%22city+of+atlanta%22+nixon+mcgovern&source=bl&ots=-yh3ItHfFV&sig=ACfU3U1zaQZvIzt1wMMSmbq64QqT5ktrgA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwimtKKn4oziAhXrsFQKHTXoDLoQ6AEwAXoECAgQAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false

Kennedy won Fulton County by 1.7 in 1960, but it was the third worst performance a Democrat has done there in a presidential election. White voters actually led him to victory.

More of a case for comparing Eisenhower and Obama. Ike got the black vote in Greater Atlanta? OK. He did right with Brown v. Board of Education. Similar temperament, similar appeals in demographics, similar integrity, and similar level of achievements in legislation.

[Some of My Best Friends Are Gay]

In King's home city of Atlanta, Nixon outpolled Kennedy in black districts, though his 54 percent marked a slip of 12 points from Eisenhower's share in 1956.

https://books.google.com/books?id=jjRNUM3ULukC&pg=PA84&lpg=PA84&dq=%22city+of+atlanta%22+nixon+mcgovern&source=bl&ots=-yh3ItHfFV&sig=ACfU3U1zaQZvIzt1wMMSmbq64QqT5ktrgA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwimtKKn4oziAhXrsFQKHTXoDLoQ6AEwAXoECAgQAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false

Kennedy won Fulton County by 1.7 in 1960, but it was the third worst performance a Democrat has done there in a presidential election. White voters actually led him to victory.

How was it the third worst? I believe Fulton County has only gone Republican once in history, so who was the Democrat who won it by less than 1.7 points?

[Politician]

In King's home city of Atlanta, Nixon outpolled Kennedy in black districts, though his 54 percent marked a slip of 12 points from Eisenhower's share in 1956.

https://books.google.com/books?id=jjRNUM3ULukC&pg=PA84&lpg=PA84&dq=%22city+of+atlanta%22+nixon+mcgovern&source=bl&ots=-yh3ItHfFV&sig=ACfU3U1zaQZvIzt1wMMSmbq64QqT5ktrgA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwimtKKn4oziAhXrsFQKHTXoDLoQ6AEwAXoECAgQAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false

Kennedy won Fulton County by 1.7 in 1960, but it was the third worst performance a Democrat has done there in a presidential election. White voters actually led him to victory.

How was it the third worst? I believe Fulton County has only gone Republican once in history, so who was the Democrat who won it by less than 1.7 points?

Smith lost it in 1928.

[Rookie Yinzer]

In King's home city of Atlanta, Nixon outpolled Kennedy in black districts, though his 54 percent marked a slip of 12 points from Eisenhower's share in 1956.

https://books.google.com/books?id=jjRNUM3ULukC&pg=PA84&lpg=PA84&dq=%22city+of+atlanta%22+nixon+mcgovern&source=bl&ots=-yh3ItHfFV&sig=ACfU3U1zaQZvIzt1wMMSmbq64QqT5ktrgA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwimtKKn4oziAhXrsFQKHTXoDLoQ6AEwAXoECAgQAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false

Kennedy won Fulton County by 1.7 in 1960, but it was the third worst performance a Democrat has done there in a presidential election. White voters actually led him to victory.

How was it the third worst? I believe Fulton County has only gone Republican once in history, so who was the Democrat who won it by less than 1.7 points?

Smith 1928 lost it by 3 points and McGovern 1972 lost it by 13 points. So Kennedy's 1.7 point victory is third in that regard.