Candidates fought strenuously for the party endorsement or the support of party chieftains. With the endorsement came huge organizational supportthe big city "machines" being the best examplesand the automatic votes of thousands and millions of intense party loyalists. This systems disintegration is an ofttold story. Central city political machines crumbled before suburbanization and the assimilation of firstgeneration immigrants for whom the parties provided patronage and a sense of identity. Depressionera political loyalties faded as government embraced the welfare state and the electorate changed. By 1980. twofifths of the potential electorate was thirtyfour or youngerthat is. they hadnt been born at the end of World War II.
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immigrants