Yellow dog Democrat

Yellow dog Democrats is a political term that was applied to voters in the Southern United States who voted solely for candidates who represented the Democratic Party. The term originated in the late 19th century. These voters would allegedly "vote for a yellow dog before they would vote for any Republican", or, "vote for a yellow dog if he ran on the Democratic ticket". The term is now more generally applied to refer to any Democrat who will vote a straight party ticket under any circumstances. The South Carolina Democratic Party and Mississippi Democratic Party, among other state parties, continue to use the phrase to refer to committed members of the Democratic Party in the "Yellow Dog Club".

According to journalist Ed Kilgore, Yellow Dog Democrats were Southerners who saw the Democratic Party as "the default vehicle for day-to-day political life, and the dominant presence, regardless of ideology, for state and local politics."

The term "yellow dog" may be a reference to the Carolina Dog, a dog breed without European heritage and indigenous to the Americas (specifically the Southern United States).

History and usage

The phrase "Yellow Dog Democrat" is thought to have first achieved popularity during the 1928 presidential race between Democratic candidate Al Smith and Republican candidate Herbert Hoover, when Senator J. Thomas Heflin (D-Alabama) crossed party lines and formally supported Hoover. Many Southern voters disliked several items on Smith's platform, as well as his Roman Catholic faith, but still voted for him.

However, the term did not originate from the election of 1928, and there were earlier recorded usages. It was used by Abraham Lincoln in an 1848 speech on the presidential campaign of General Zachary Taylor, whose Democratic opponent was General Lewis Cass.