Specific term required. Thomas Ferguson theorized that this process occurs when business elites form new “investment blocs.” Eric Schickler theorized a “racial” form of this process due to altered “social group imagery” despite the stable attachments of “hearts and minds.” David Mayhew challenged the alleged periodicity of this process, whose gradual “secular” evolution was contrasted with its sudden, “critical” onset by V. O. Key, Jr. Since 2000, this process has occurred with respect to educational attainment among whites, causing America’s “diploma divide.” This process may be heralded by good showings by minor challengers that threaten to act as spoilers. In the US, this process is dated to 1828, 1860, 1896, and 1932, whose elections divide the five party systems. For 10 points, what process describes systemic shifts in voters’ party preferences and electoral patterns? ■END■
ANSWER: realignment [or realigning elections or word forms; accept critical elections or critical realignments until “critical” is read; accept political realignment, electoral realignment, secular realignment, or racial realignment; prompt on partisanship, polarization, polarize, partyism, party loyalty, party competition, or descriptions of votes or voting behavior by asking “what is the term for systemic changes in the patterns of that variable?”]
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= Average correct buzz position