How Trump’s Red Wave Builds on the Past

Following sweeping Republican victories in 2024, party leaders and political analysts are keen to unpack how the electorate has changed. To explore how voting blocs and party affiliations shift over time, we’ve updated our film about the 1966 midterm elections. Rising from the ashes of conservative Barry Goldwater’s failed presidential run, the 1966 midterms were a harbinger of the major enduring realignment of 20th century American politics, with white Southern voters moving to the Republican Party and Black voters becoming a core constituency of the Democratic Party. As Donald Trump has built on this decades-long movement by consolidating blue-collar support, does 2024 signal a new alignment focused on education rather than race?