The white south began to move out of the Democratic party in 1948. Barry Goldwater voted against Lyndon Johnson's civil-rights legislation. Republicans excoriated welfare dependency. Today blacks are the keystone of the Democratic party. Robinson sees that there is a tribal quality to political identity.
People usually remain with the political party to which their parents belonged.
Those who switch from Democratic to Republican seem to be individualistic people, even contrarians. They do not want to be treated as members of groups. Robinson is also interested in Republican successes as governors and mayors, in the latter category most notable, perhaps, Mayors Rudolph Giuliani of New York and Bret Schundler of Jersey City. Schundler, a Harvard graduate and Wall Street success, gained office in a largely black political environment and succeeded in revitalizing schools and neighborhoods, getting a myriad of practical things done. He and his black constituents want school vouchers.