Hardest one yet: Describe a Wallace '68/McGovern '72 voter

[old timey villain]

Maybe a southern vietnam war vet who became very disillusioned and became a peace activist?

[ElectionsGuy]

An anti-war racist? I think the above two descriptions are very good. Probably a person in AL who votes D all the time no matter what except to vote for their governor as an exception.

[Intell]

A Poor, Southern, Racist, White Democrat.

The Person liked Wallace for his populism and mostly his segregation views but in 1972, he or she couldn't get around to the idea of voting for Nixon because Nixon was a Republican and represented the policies of big business and corporations up in the north.

However, the Democrat also thought McGovern represented his interests better by McGovern's populist economic policy for the poor.

Or just a person, who dis-regarded Wallace's racist, segregationist views and just voted for him because of his populism. This Person would probably be a Northern, Blue Collar, Unionized Worker.

Also maybe an Anti-War activist. Arguably, Wallace was the most anti- Vietnam war candidate in 1968.  

[Rockefeller GOP]

An absolute, 100% Southern Democrat. Most likely fairly poor.

This.  While many former Southern Democrats DID in fact become Republicans in the future (or at least start voting that way), it can't be discounted how many just ... well, died off.

[MATTROSE94]

A Poor, Southern, Racist, White Democrat.

The Person liked Wallace for his populism and mostly his segregation views but in 1972, he or she couldn't get around to the idea of  voting for Nixon because Nixon was a Republican and represented the policies of big business and corporations up in the north.

However, the Democrat also thought McGovern represented his interests better by McGovern's populist economic policy for the poor.

Or just a person, who dis-regarded Wallace's racist, segregationist views and just voted for him because of his populism. This Person would probably be a Northern, Blue Collar, Unionized Worker.

Also maybe an Anti-War activist. Arguably, Wallace was the most anti- Vietnam war candidate in 1968. 

That's actually interesting that George Wallace was the most-anti-Vietnam War candidate in 1968. I was always under the impression that he was the most hawkish of the three major candidates on Vietnam and national defense issues in general.

[Intell]

A Poor, Southern, Racist, White Democrat.

The Person liked Wallace for his populism and mostly his segregation views but in 1972, he or she couldn't get around to the idea of  voting for Nixon because Nixon was a Republican and represented the policies of big business and corporations up in the north.

However, the Democrat also thought McGovern represented his interests better by McGovern's populist economic policy for the poor.

Or just a person, who dis-regarded Wallace's racist, segregationist views and just voted for him because of his populism. This Person would probably be a Northern, Blue Collar, Unionized Worker.

Also maybe an Anti-War activist. Arguably, Wallace was the most anti- Vietnam war candidate in 1968. 

That's actually interesting that George Wallace was the most-anti-Vietnam War candidate in 1968. I was always under the impression that he was the most hawkish of the three major candidates on Vietnam and national defense issues in general.

George Wallace Position on Vietnam War:

- If the Vietnam War was not winnable within 90 days of his taking office, Wallace pledged an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops ...

[morgieb]

I guess there might be the odd populist Dem who didn't like Republicans but agreed with Wallace's style more? This would be more common had say Muskie or some other Dem won the nomination though. In particular there wouldn't be that many Wallace voters who voted for Ford over Carter, for example.

[TNF]

My grandfather was one.

[Boston Bread]

I guess there might be the odd populist Dem who didn't like Republicans but agreed with Wallace's style more? This would be more common had say Muskie or some other Dem won the nomination though. In particular there wouldn't be that many Wallace voters who voted for Ford over Carter, for example.

Carter won Wallace voters in the south, but a substantial amount of them voted for Ford. Black vote for Wallace was negligible, so I'll try to only look at the white vote. Ford won 52% of the southern white vote, and his highest percentages of the white vote (>60%) were from Mississippi and Louisiana, states which voted for Wallace. So Wallace->Ford isn't an odd voting pattern at all.

Since Wallace got 40% of the southern white vote in 1968, Humphrey 15%, I would estimate that about only 5 out of 8 of Wallace voters voted for Carter, taking into account Nixon->Carter voters.

[Adam Griffin]

About a third of Georgia.

[Adam Griffin]

About a third of Georgia.

Who, though? Nixon's share of the GA vote in '72 was larger (75%) than he and Wallace combined in '68 (73%).

Nixon's stronger performance relative to the anti-Humphrey vote could easily be explained by incumbency and McGovern's perception to many as a hardcore liberal.

They would have been scattered everywhere and across a variety of groups, presumably, but a larger than average chunk would have been poor white farmers along the far southern end of the state who were strong non-interventionists (Wallace said he'd pull us out in 90 days if the war wasn't winnable).

[SingingAnalyst]

Perry County, TN went narrowly for Wallace in '68 and narrowly for McGovern in '72.  The breakdown was:

1968: Humphrey 33% Nixon 32% Wallace 35%
1972: McGovern 50% Nixon 48%

So quite a few probably.

[Thunderbird is the word]

I'm going to go a different route, Young working class white autoworker in the Midwest who fears affirmative action will cause him to lose his job, this voter gets drafted and sent to Vietnam a year later. Serving alongside blacks moderates his racial views, his experiences also lead to his becoming anti-war.

[SingingAnalyst]

I'm going to go a different route, Young working class white autoworker in the Midwest who fears affirmative action will cause him to lose his job, this voter gets drafted and sent to Vietnam a year later. Serving alongside blacks moderates his racial views, his experiences also lead to his becoming anti-war.

I think you've described someone from Hazel Park, MI. This once virtually all-white inner ring "suburb" of Detroit gave Wallace 19% and McGovern 45%. In recent years it has become more diverse ethnically and in other ways: In 2004 it voted 50.04%-49.96% against a ban on SSM (which MI passes 58.6%-41.4%) (Hazel Park is located next to Ferndale which has a large gay population and, incidentally, uses IRV for local elections).

[Fuzzy Bear]

I do believe that there were, in some states, some National Democratic voters who voted for Wallace in 1968 in order to prevent Nixon from getting an electoral majority, particularly in SC, NC, VA, and TN.

[Mechaman]

A Poor, Southern, Racist, White Democrat.

The Person liked Wallace for his populism and mostly his segregation views but in 1972, he or she couldn't get around to the idea of  voting for Nixon because Nixon was a Republican and represented the policies of big business and corporations up in the north.

However, the Democrat also thought McGovern represented his interests better by McGovern's populist economic policy for the poor.

Or just a person, who dis-regarded Wallace's racist, segregationist views and just voted for him because of his populism. This Person would probably be a Northern, Blue Collar, Unionized Worker.

Also maybe an Anti-War activist. Arguably, Wallace was the most anti- Vietnam war candidate in 1968. 

That's actually interesting that George Wallace was the most-anti-Vietnam War candidate in 1968. I was always under the impression that he was the most hawkish of the three major candidates on Vietnam and national defense issues in general.

George Wallace Position on Vietnam War:

- If the Vietnam War was not winnable within 90 days of his taking office, Wallace pledged an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops ...

If his plans of nuking the sh¢t out of the place first didn't work out.