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

[Higgins]

Suppose you were able to go back in time to November 1976, with hindsight of what would happen IRL post 1976. Who would you vote for?

[Higgins]

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.

If Ford won, the GOP might not have drifted so far right. Carter's election in 1976 is what allowed for Reagan to be elected in 1980. A mediocre second Ford term from 1977 to 1981 means a Democratic victory in 1980.

[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."