The Peculiar Institution's More Peculiar Without Racists

It’s worth noting a study from last year that measured racial resentment in the states of the former Confederacy. Researchers found two things: First, that whites in these areas expressed more racial resentment than their counterparts in the North, and second, that they were dramatically more likely to vote Republican and support Republican policies. Which fits with what we know about the region’s political history, namely, that its conservatism is tied to its slave-owning past.

None of this is to say the Republican Party is “racist,” or that Democrats don’t have their own problems on race. But one thing is clear: to whites in the South, the Democratic Party is seen as friendly to minorities—and blacks in particular—in a way that isn’t true of Republicans, and that drives voting behavior.

It’s worth noting the degree to which this also applies to Appalachia. As Jonathan Chait points out for New York magazine, Barack Obama performed worse in the regions of the Appalachian mountains than his white counterpart, John Kerry. As with the Deep South, you could attribute this to ideology or cultural difference. Or you could listen to the voters themselves,...