CONGRESSIONAL SUPPORT OF CIVIL-RIGHTS PUBLIC-POLICY - FROM BIPARTISANTO PARTISAN CONVERGENCE

Much of the scholarship on the adoption of civil rights policies cites the importance of the Democratic Party and notes a lack of Republican support. We analyze congressional support for the universe of civil r ights laws this century to demonstrate empirically the relationship be tween partisanship and support. Contrary to conventional wisdom, Democ ratic support for much of this legislation was not as strong as Republ ican-due to a north-south ideological schism that resulted in southern Democrats consistently voting against civil rights legislation. Howev er, the earlier convergence, or fairly stable bipartisan voting patter n of Republicans and northern Democrats, appears to have been replaced by a convergence in support between northern and southern Democrats, and a concomitant decline in Republican support.