1904 Presidential Election

[Rockefeller GOP]

Teddy, no contest.

[Rockefeller GOP]

Why the leftist love for TR? Parker ran to his left.

Parker was a Bourbon Democrat, Roosevelt was a Progressive. Sure, Parker opposed imperialism but he was for cutting government expenditures and opposing tariffs.

Opposing a high tariff would, at the time, be a more populist position than favoring a high protective tariff.  It was a policy that benefited big corporations a ton, hence the GOP's loyal support for them.

[Rockefeller GOP]

Opposing a high tariff would, at the time, be a more populist position than favoring a high protective tariff.  It was a policy that benefited big corporations a ton, hence the GOP's loyal support for them.

Not necessarily. Lower tariffs were supported by Populists, but also (and more vigorously) by conservative Bourbon Democrats.

The point is that the GOP (in my opinion, the more fiscally "conservative" party since its inception but at LEAST since 1896) supported a high tariff on pro-business principles.  It was certainly something populists attacked.  If I were to guess, Bourbon Democrats opposed it for partisan and electoral reasons.