Gerald Ford to City: "Drop Dead"
       |           

Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
Did you miss your activation email?
March 19, 2024, 06:07:33 AM
News: Election Simulator 2.0 Released. Senate/Gubernatorial maps, proportional electoral votes, and more - Read more

  Talk Elections
  Presidential Elections - Analysis and Discussion
  U.S. Presidential Election Results (Moderator: Dereich)
  Gerald Ford to City: "Drop Dead"
« previous next »
Pages: [1]
Author Topic: Gerald Ford to City: "Drop Dead"  (Read 2832 times)
old timey villain
cope1989
Jr. Member
***
Posts: 1,741


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« on: April 17, 2014, 07:55:36 PM »

Anyone old enough to remember this alleged quite from Gerald Ford? Apparently he opposed bailing out NYC when it was dealing with severe financial difficulties. This quote was front page news in 1975, a year before Ford was up for reelection.

Anybody have any data on NYC's swing between 1972 and 1976? I wonder if this comment cost him lots of votes in the city.
Logged
Mechaman
Atlas Icon
*****
Posts: 13,791
Jamaica
Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #1 on: April 17, 2014, 08:11:58 PM »
« Edited: April 17, 2014, 08:13:41 PM by Ready For Hoover '28! »

Looking at the swing there is quite a remarkable shift, however there were many other factors besides the whole "drop dead" episode though I can certainly see how it didn't help.  The most notable change seems to be in Queens, which voted for Nixon in the mid fifties but voted over 60% for Carter.
Logged
old timey villain
cope1989
Jr. Member
***
Posts: 1,741


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #2 on: April 17, 2014, 11:21:46 PM »

Yeah, I checked the results from 72 and 76 and there was a big D swing in NY, but the entire country swung hard as well, since 72 was a R landslide and 76 was a modest D victory. But the NYC swing seems larger.

My guess is that Carter won a lot more of the minority vote but I also think New Yorkers were upset by Ford's refusal to bail out the city. He never said "drop dead" but he was pretty clear in his opposition to the federal bailout. New York was in a terrible state at the time and I'm sure New Yorkers were ready to support anyone who was a little more sympathetic to their problems.

Carter had a big photo op standing in the south Bronx pledging to fight urban decay. Reagan stood in the same spot four years later and accused Carter of doing nothing. NYC is like disney world compared to the state it was in back in the 70s
Logged
Oldiesfreak1854
Atlas Icon
*****
Posts: 13,674
United States


WWW Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #3 on: May 30, 2014, 07:27:44 AM »

He wouldn't have carried NYC anyway.
Logged
Fuzzy Won't Cover Up Biden's Senility
Fuzzy Bear
Atlas Star
*****
Posts: 25,429
United States


WWW Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #4 on: May 31, 2014, 01:11:41 PM »

What happened is that New York's white middle class registered Democrats returned, in part, to the Democratic fold.  These were the Nixon Democrats who never left the party and never stopped voting Democratic for any other offices, but voted for Nixon because of McGovern's ultra-liberalism.  And, yes, the aid to NYC issue played a huge role because many of these voters who were Nixon Democrats were also NYC public employees who would be negatively impacted if NYC defaulted.

The swing to the Democrats was pronounced in NYC.  Carter won NY State 51-48, but he only carried seven (7) of NY's sixty-two (62) counties; Bronx, Kings (Brooklyn), New York (Manhattan), Queens, Albany, Erie (Buffalo) and Sullivan County (a heavily Jewish upstate county in the "Borscht Belt" resort area of the Catskill Mountains).  Carter improved his margins over McGovern in Long Island, but failed to carry either Nassau or Suffolk Counties.  While carrying Albany County, Carter lost Rensellaer County (Troy) and Schnectady County, which had nominal Democratic pluralities. 
Logged
sg0508
Sr. Member
****
Posts: 2,053
United States


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #5 on: May 31, 2014, 09:32:24 PM »

Carter carried NY for a few reasons over Ford:

1) Ford was in a tough spot after the GOP primary. Choosing Bob Dole as his VP candidate was a disaster.  New York was obviously loyal to Gov. Rockefeller who was the alternate, moderate choice.  Usually, the VP choice doesn't make a big difference in certain states, but this one probably did.

2) Ford's margins on Long Island (strongly GOP prior to the mid 90s) was very, very weak.  Carter won 47% in the burbs of Nassau/Suffolk, which at the time, was a very strong Democratic showing.

3) Mondale's presence on the ticket may have helped Carter here.  Coming from Georgia with NY being competitive at the presidential level at that time, many New Yorkers didn't connect with him very well, but the more liberal Mondale from MN appealed, similar to Hubert Humphrey.

Again, I think the VP choices from both sides did in fact make a difference in this particular state. 
Logged
rbt48
Jr. Member
***
Posts: 1,060


WWW Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #6 on: June 08, 2014, 12:59:57 AM »

I think the NY Daily News headline cost Gerald Ford NY's electoral votes (and the election as well).  New York has a long history of swinging toward incumbents in Presidential elections and the "Drop Dead" headline probably cost Ford the 145,000 votes in NYC that he needed to flip to carry the state and its 41 electoral votes.
Logged
Simfan34
Atlas Icon
*****
Posts: 15,744
United States


Political Matrix
E: 0.90, S: 4.17

Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #7 on: June 23, 2014, 12:56:59 AM »

Anyone old enough to remember this alleged quite from Gerald Ford? Apparently he opposed bailing out NYC when it was dealing with severe financial difficulties. This quote was front page news in 1975, a year before Ford was up for reelection.

Anybody have any data on NYC's swing between 1972 and 1976? I wonder if this comment cost him lots of votes in the city.

Logged
SingingAnalyst
mathstatman
YaBB God
*****
Posts: 3,639
United States


Show only this user's posts in this thread
« Reply #8 on: May 05, 2015, 01:40:08 PM »

NYC's swing to Carter 15 points, much stronger than in most northern cities, and a stark contrast to, say, Boston, where Carter was down 6 points from McGovern. I'm sure the NY Daily News headline had an impact, as the only other places with a 15 point swing were places like Kansas and Kentucky, and the suburbs and rural areas of the midwest.
Logged
Pages: [1]  
« previous next »
Jump to:  


Login with username, password and session length

Terms of Service - DMCA Agent and Policy - Privacy Policy and Cookies

Powered by SMF 1.1.21 | SMF © 2015, Simple Machines

Page created in 0.037 seconds with 11 queries.