1972 if McGovern was anti-amnesty and vocally pro-life and anti-drugs

[darklordoftech]

What would the map look like if McGovern vocally opposed "amnesty, acid, and abortion"?

[Lord Admirale]

He wouldn't be McGovern tho

[HisGrace]

What if McGovern was Nixon and Nixon was McGovern? Discuss with maps.

[UWS]

Nixon wwould still win the election because McGovern would lose an important part of his base by adopting such positions.

[Mr. Smith]

He does slightly better in The South, but sacrifices ground everywhere else, likely costing him Massachusetts.

[Fuzzy Bear]

Nixon/Agnew (R) 456 EV
McGovern/Shriver (D) 42 EV

The question is framed a bit improperly.  Of the three (3) "Amnesty, Abortion, and Acid" issues, only Amnesty was a major issue in the fall campaign.  Roe v Wade hadn't been decided yet, and abortion was not on the public consciousness as a social issue to the degree that School Busing to achieve racial integration was.  BUSING, and not abortion, was the hottest of hot-button issues in 1972; it was the issue that caused McGovern to lose Michigan and Maryland, states that were Democratic even then.

Nixon ran up larger than normal majorities in Northern suburbs mainly due to the issue of court-ordered cross-district busing to achieve racial integration in public schools.  This is the issue that pushed the Detroit suburbs into the GOP column (they had been rather Democratic before 1972).  It was what pushed suburban Baltimore County (and even the DC suburbs) into the GOP column.  The question is really whether or not a National Democrat could have volubly opposed Busing while maintaining the level of black support that they needed to win.

[UnselfconsciousTeff]

[Politician]