Nixon vs. Humphrey vs. Wallace Today

[H. Ross Peron]

Massive Democratic landslide due to the split in the right-wing vote.

[Rockefeller GOP]

For the last time, George Wallace was not right-wing.  Being a racist does not make you a conservative; ask William Jennings Bryan and Woodrow Wilson about that.

[H. Ross Peron]

For the last time, George Wallace was not right-wing.  Being a racist does not make you a conservative; ask William Jennings Bryan and Woodrow Wilson about that.

The difference is that his brand of economic populism and race-baiting are currently GOP voters whereas they were Democratic voters in 1968 so a candidacy of someone like him will be of detriment to the Republicans not the Democrats.

[Goldwater]

I think you are seriously overestimating the support for segregation in 2015.

[Sumner 1868]

Wallace would win Mississippi at the least, even today.

[Nym90]

The problem with these sorts of hypotheticals is that the issues and the range of acceptable positions change, so the only fair way to do it IMO is to compensate for that. For example, Wallace's views on race may have been shared by 30-40% of Americans in 1968 but obviously would be unthinkable for any mainstream candidate today (remember that he himself renounced them, and won the black vote in 1982 when he ran for Governor), so give him a comparable position by today's standards. Nixon's positions on economics would basically make him a mainstream Democrat today, but made him a moderate Republican then, so perhaps someone like Chris Christie is a more apt comparison.

[Chunk Yogurt for President!]

For the last time, George Wallace was not right-wing.  Being a racist does not make you a conservative; ask William Jennings Bryan and Woodrow Wilson about that.

Thank you.  Although I'm not so sure about WJB.  Wilson is a great example though.

[Mechaman]

For the last time, George Wallace was not right-wing.  Being a racist does not make you a conservative; ask William Jennings Bryan and Woodrow Wilson about that.

Thank you.  Although I'm not so sure about WJB.  Wilson is a great example though.

Wallace was in his own little world.  Let's leave it at that.

[Chunk Yogurt for President!]

Also, no one has mentioned Nixon's obvious disadvantage.

[Rockefeller GOP]

For the last time, George Wallace was not right-wing.  Being a racist does not make you a conservative; ask William Jennings Bryan and Woodrow Wilson about that.

Thank you.  Although I'm not so sure about WJB.  Wilson is a great example though.

Wallace was in his own little world.  Let's leave it at that.

Very fair.

As for Pass, he was at the very least a pretty open segregationist, to my knowledge.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Did Nixon call for a basic guaranteed income or was that later/someone else? I know McGovern did in '72.

I'm not sure about the campaign, but his administration later proposed that in 1969 or 1970. Right-wing and left-wing critics alike assured its defeat. Nixon would later attack McGovern on the proposal, as I recall. However, in the 1968 campaign, he did speak to black voters in the north about tailoring social programs to their needs specifically, and did undertake action in the name of that during his time in office. This was all in a different era, of course, when the GOP still had a shot at taking on the Democrats from the perspective of both states rights and civil rights. In today's world, Rand Paul might be a better comparison (Rand's been attempting to play both the right and the left with his quirky policy proposals, which would have, ironically, had a place in the Nixon administration and type of policy experimentation of the 1970's), though he's obviously in a very different lane than Nixon.

[Fuzzybigfoot]

For the last time, George Wallace was not right-wing.  Being a racist does not make you a conservative; ask William Jennings Bryan and Woodrow Wilson about that.

George Wallace was much more "pro business" than he said.  Besides, he endorsed Dole in 1996, didn't he? 

[Obama-Biden Democrat]

Wouldn't there be some massive right wing backlash? The nation has moved dramatically to the right economically since 1968. I mean the Republican nominee supported wage and prices controls, Universal Healthcare and the EPA. Humphrey would have been a standard New Dealer, and even Wallace was pro New Deal.

[SingingAnalyst]

I say no change except Nixon wins all the Wallace states plus Texas, and Humphrey wins CA and VT. Wallace's then-recent use of the N word would make him unelectable even in a theoretical sense, and he would finish in the low single digits, perhaps nearing double digits in AL and MS. White southerners would vote for Nixon so as not to waste their vote. Popular vote: Humphrey 48%-Nixon 49%-Wallace 2%. EV: Humphrey 215, Nixon 323 (approximately). As a footnote, in 1972 virtually no one born after 1950 or with more than a high school education backed Wallace, which would severely limit him today.