Question

What is dealignment? Has this occurred in American politics, and if so, when?

Answer 1

Dealignment, in political science, is a trend or process by which a large part of the electorate leaves its previous partisan (political party) affiliation, without developing a new one to replace it. It stands in contrast to realignment.

Many more Americans called themselves Democrats in the 1950s and early 1960s than independents, or Republicans. The Democratic edge started to erode after 1964 but Republicans could not build on the defeats of the Democrats immediately. In fact, from 1964 to the 1970s, the proportion of Republican identifiers declined, even when a Republican president, Richard Nixon, was elected in 1968 and re-elected by a landslide in 1972; Democrats retained control of Congress, split-ticket voting was fairly common, the proportion of "pure independent" identifiers increased, and a steady stream of independent and third-party candidates was emerging.These partisan shifts struck many scholars as resembling a deal, or decline in party loyalties.