Gerald Ford vs. Jimmy Carter: Who has your vote?

[Higgins]

Both are FFs, its really tough for me to say who I would pick with or without hindsight. Perhaps without hindsight, in 1976, I would have picked Carter, even though Ford was my kind of Republican. But with hindsight, maybe Ford, because as it was said above, maybe that would mean no President Reagan.

Yes. If Ford is elected in 1976, it either:

A) Means the moderate faction of the GOP stays intact and the conservative rise is delayed a few years and a moderate Republican (perhaps Bush) is to succeed Ford in 1980.

or

B) Means a Liberal Democrat, or at worst a centrist Democrat (but more to the left than Carter) wins in 1980 due to Republican fatigue

Either way, likely no Reagan in 1980. A Ford victory doesn't give him the ability to say "see, moderate Republicanism is a dead-end street."

[darklordoftech]

Both are FFs, its really tough for me to say who I would pick with or without hindsight. Perhaps without hindsight, in 1976, I would have picked Carter, even though Ford was my kind of Republican. But with hindsight, maybe Ford, because as it was said above, maybe that would mean no President Reagan.

Yes. If Ford is elected in 1976, it either:

A) Means the moderate faction of the GOP stays intact and the conservative rise is delayed a few years and a moderate Republican (perhaps Bush) is to succeed Ford in 1980.

or

B) Means a Liberal Democrat, or at worst a centrist Democrat (but more to the left than Carter) wins in 1980 due to Republican fatigue

Either way, likely no Reagan in 1980. A Ford victory doesn't give him the ability to say "see, moderate Republicanism is a dead-end street."

What would probably happen is that a Democrat would succeed Ford in 1980 and get re-elected in 1984 and then in 1988 Bush would run on his 1980 platform rather than a Reaganite platform.

[President Johnson]

Gerald Rudolph Ford. I would have voted for him enthusiastically in 1976, but Democratic down-ballot.

Both are very decent human beings, but Ford was a far more competent president and simply deserved reelection.

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Ford, in hopes of preventing (or at least delaying) the Reagan Revolution. Carter without hindsight.

[darklordoftech]

The candidate who supported the Equal Rights Amendment, didn't consider ketchup a vegetable, didn't use the phrases "welfare queen" or "states' rights", didn't tell tobacco farmers that he supported them, considered the war on drugs a low priority, and defeated Reagan in a primary has my vote.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Ford, in hopes of preventing (or at least delaying) the Reagan Revolution. Carter without hindsight.

This is such a stupid line of reasoning.

[Santander]

Ford, in hopes of preventing (or at least delaying) the Reagan Revolution. Carter without hindsight.

This is such a stupid line of reasoning.

Welcome to Atlas.

[Kingpoleon]

The candidate who supported the Equal Rights Amendment, didn't consider ketchup a vegetable, didn't use the phrases "welfare queen" or "states' rights", didn't tell tobacco farmers that he supported them, considered the war on drugs a low priority, and defeated Reagan in a primary has my vote.

To be fair, Carter was the last Presidential nominee to actually take two sides on many issues over the course of one campaign. Down South, he would talk about the tyranny of forced busing, and up north he could talk about how great affirmative action is.

[dw93]

Ford, in hopes of preventing (or at least delaying) the Reagan Revolution. Carter without hindsight.

This is such a stupid line of reasoning.

Call it what you want, it is true that Reagan most likely would've never became President had '76 gone the other way. I wouldn't be surprised if there were Republicans out there who wish either Gore or Kerry won their respective elections for the sake of preventing Obama from becoming President.

With that said, I voted Ford in this poll also because I think he was better equipped to deal with the sh**tstorm that was the late 70s than Carter was, even if the end result would've only been slightly better.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Ford, in hopes of preventing (or at least delaying) the Reagan Revolution. Carter without hindsight.

This is such a stupid line of reasoning.

Call it what you want, it is true that Reagan most likely would've never became President had '76 gone the other way. I wouldn't be surprised if there were Republicans out there who wish either Gore or Kerry won their respective elections for the sake of preventing Obama from becoming President.

With that said, I voted Ford in this poll also because I think he was better equipped to deal with the sh**tstorm that was the late 70s than Carter was, even if the end result would've only been slightly better.

The question is "Who has your vote?" Rephrased, it might be "who do you prefer of the two choices?" It is not some "Well, according to a counterfactual I ran, if, with forty years' hindsight, we installed Ford at the helm..." With that mindset, Republicans ought to prefer John Kerry and Democrats Mitt Romney. As much long-term "logic" might be in some of this insanity, it's a stupid question to ask voters, who are forced to make these decisions in the present.

[Mr. Illini]

Ford, in hopes of preventing (or at least delaying) the Reagan Revolution. Carter without hindsight.

yep

[TheLeftwardTide]

Ford, in hopes of preventing (or at least delaying) the Reagan Revolution. Carter without hindsight.

[I’m not Stu]

Gerald Ford

[GoTfan]

Ford, in hopes of preventing (or at least delaying) the Reagan Revolution. Carter without hindsight.

[Sir Mohamed]

Both are FFs, but I chose Ford. I believe he was a better functioning chief-executive , because of competence and experience.

Ford, in hopes of preventing (or at least delaying) the Reagan Revolution. Carter without hindsight.

The argument to vote for Ford in order to prevent Reagan from becoming president is actually ridiculous. The question is about 1976, not in retrospect. Nobody in 1976 could foresee the Reagan Revolution would be coming, especially not by voting for or against Gerald Ford. 1980 would have been an open nomination on the GOP side either way, since Ford would have been term-limited after his elected term. You may argue that a Ford victory would have strengthened the moderate wing, at least medium-term, and that a third GOP presidential term would have increased chances for a Democratic victory in 1980, Reagan's last chance for a first-time run. But it may also be argued, that a Democratic incumbent president in 1980 would have been hard to beat. Remember that in 1976, the last sitting president who was defeated in his bid for reelection, was 1932. And the conservative GOP faction wouldn't have been everything but dead had Ford won election to a full term. Reagan still came close of beating an incumbent for the nomination and forced Ford to drop the liberal Rockefeller from the ticket (something Ford later regretted). However, I think that in the case of Ford securing reelection, the 1980 GOP nomination had gone to Vice President Bob Dole, who would have been defeated by the Democratic candidate. Likely a DC insider, since nominating an outsider like Carter didn't work out four years before.

[Pyro]

Ford with hindsight.

[darklordoftech]

Even without hindsight, it was clear that Ford was the anti-Reaganites' last hope. Also, Ford didn't attack school busing in his campaign while Carter did.

[Lechasseur]

Carter

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Carter. There was no "Reagan revolution" and an acceleration of market policies by an 80s Democratic president would have been worse in the long-term for progressives than what actually happened.

Can you explain what you mean here?  Are you saying these policies were an inevitability either way?

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Carter. There was no "Reagan revolution" and an acceleration of market policies by an 80s Democratic president would have been worse in the long-term for progressives than what actually happened.

Can you explain what you mean here?  Are you saying these policies were an inevitability either way?

While I can't speak for Goff, it seems that in those anglosphere countries that elected center-left governments in the 1980's, some aspect of deregulation and liberalization was still implemented. Presumably, this poster believes that in our case, such would have more greatly instituted neoliberalism in the Democratic Party, making it more difficult for progressive candidates to win nomination.