Congressional History:Was Biden 1972 Deleware senate win seen as a fluke at the time?

[Bootes Void]

He was down alot during the summer apparently and won fairly narrowly

How was it seen at the time

[Roll Roons]

Yeah, it was seen as a huge upset. Let's be honest. A little-known 29-year old county official is not someone Democrats would have nominated if they thought they actually had a chance.

[brucejoel99]

Yes, starting off the campaign broke, unstaffed, written off, & behind by 30 points before ultimately beating the popular Republican incumbent despite Nixon stomping McGovern by 20+ points was seen as an upset. One of the biggest Senate upsets up until that point, in fact. Bigger than Doug Jones', even.

[Calthrina950]

Yes, starting off the campaign broke, unstaffed, written off, & behind by 30 points before ultimately beating the popular Republican incumbent despite Nixon stomping McGovern by 20+ points was seen as an upset. One of the biggest Senate upsets up until that point, in fact. Bigger than Doug Jones', even.

Biden was a beneficiary of massive ticket-splitting, as were many downballot Democrats (and Republicans) during that time. The Democrats had the opposite problem of what they have today: They could routinely win control of Congress, the majority of state governorships, and the majority of state legislatures, but they were underdogs for the Presidency. This problem persisted throughout the 1970s and 1980s, with Carter's narrow victory in 1976 the only deviation from the pattern. Biden would not have been able to win that Senate race with today's polarization. I also find it interesting that he was easily reelected in another Republican landslide year-1984, when Ronald Reagan carried Delaware by a virtually identical margin as Nixon did in 1972.

[Alben Barkley]

It was a big upset but I’m not sure if “fluke” is the right word. Clearly Biden had formidable political skill to pull off such an upset, so it’s not like people thought he wouldn’t be able to win again after that.

[WD]

Yes, starting off the campaign broke, unstaffed, written off, & behind by 30 points before ultimately beating the popular Republican incumbent despite Nixon stomping McGovern by 20+ points was seen as an upset. One of the biggest Senate upsets up until that point, in fact. Bigger than Doug Jones', even.

Biden was a beneficiary of massive ticket-splitting, as were many downballot Democrats (and Republicans) during that time. The Democrats had the opposite problem of what they have today: They could routinely win control of Congress, the majority of state governorships, and the majority of state legislatures, but they were underdogs for the Presidency. This problem persisted throughout the 1970s and 1980s, with Carter's narrow victory in 1976 the only deviation from the pattern. Biden would not have been able to win that Senate race with today's polarization. I also find it interesting that he was easily reelected in another Republican landslide year-1984, when Ronald Reagan carried Delaware by a virtually identical margin as Nixon did in 1972.

The ticket splitting seen in 1972 was really a sight to see.

Congressional districts on Presidential level (Nixon vs McGovern) :

Congressional districts for House results:

I’m not sure of the exact numbers, but there were many districts where Nixon got well over 60% of the vote (Particularly in the south) and the Democratic incumbent easily won re-election. In fact, many of them ran unopposed. Had today’s political climate existed in 1972, Democrats almost certainly would have lost the house, and Republicans would’ve picked up an unimaginable amount of seats. 

In the Senate there were some really impressive examples as well. In Arkansas, John McClellan, the incumbent Democrat, was re-elected 61%-39%, even as Nixon won the state 69%-30%. That’s an overperformance of 61 points (Democrats lose by 39 in the presidential race, win by 22 in the Senate race) something that is absolutely impossible today.

On the other hand, in Massachusetts, the only state McGovern won, Edward Brooke, the Republican Senator, was re-elected 64-35, while McGovern himself won the state by 9, an overperformance of 38%.

Overall, 1972 was truly a different era. Back then people voted for the candidate, not the party. It’s unlikely we’ll ever see something like that again.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Not really, Biden is a Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter Pragmatist as Dr Jill Biden is his biggest asset, and still is, and Biden isn't retiring in 2024, as long as Dr Jill Biden has anything to do with it

Both of them enjoy politics and will serve in WH for 2 terms just like they did as Veeps