And this why you should never rely on Wikipedia for anything politically related. The site is VERY well known for having an exceptionally gross bias against the right, against conservatives, against Republicans, and against anyone or anything that dares challenge the hive mind / group think of the Left and liberal orthodoxy.

The "Southern Strategy" was actually an attempt by the GOP to break the stranglehold the Democrats had on politics in the South. That hold was so strong the rest of the Democratic Party had to bend to it and thus progress on Civil Rights was always held back by the Democrats - with Southern Democrats at the lead in that.

The GOP attempted to make inroads in the South by appealing to moderates among Southern urban voters. Those "disaffected whites" were the absolute LAST people who would EVER be caught dead voting for Republicans. Look up the phrase "yellow dog Democrat" as an example of that mentality.

The GOP didn't get too far in the South in the 60s with that strategy. The South remained SOLIDLY a Democratic Party stronghold.

If the article's premise were factual you'd have seen the South change over to Republican by the late 60s or early 70s as the Democratic Party pulled a near 180 and suddenly became the pro-civil rights thing that the GOP had always been.

Instead, the South remained Democratic and Southern voters kept electing racist Democrats to office.

It was only in the 80s that things began to change as those Southern Democratic Party bigots began getting too old to hold to power. AND because or immigration patterns where millions of Northerners began moving in to the South in search of better jobs and lower taxes.

As that happened, only then did the voting patterns change and the GOP's message of smaller government / lower taxes take root in the South.

Arguing otherwise runs contrary to the actual facts and is also a staple of current Democratic Party talking points as they attempt to rewrite history and make the Republican Party a thing of racism. This, when it has consistently been the Democratic Party which was the racist of the two.