How would 1972 have fared with George Wallace as the VP nominee?

[brucejoel99]

I- I just can't rationalize the ticket of George McGovern & George Wallace, at all.

That isn't to say there wasn't come crossover between McGovern & Wallace voters. Indeed, polls taken throughout the primaries showed that there was a strong correlation where a significant number of Wallace voters would've picked McGovern as their 2nd choice & vice-versa, but a lot of that had to do with the anti-establishment vibe that both men presented. Among that segment of voters, it might've worked, but outside of that, the ticket would've been seen by voters as schizophrenic; African-Americans would've felt betrayed & turnout would've dropped to catastrophic levels, impacting Democratic candidates at every level; that is, unless you don't end up with an African-American ticket which would better represent their issues as was discussed during the Carter years. Liberals would despise Wallace & always be worried about the potential of him becoming President; conservatives would despise McGovern & be convinced that Wallace would have little real leverage over McGovern.

I mean, can you imagine the kind of platform they'd have to push through to run on for the campaign? What kind of compromise could be hashed out on the vital issues of the day where they might've been on opposing sides?

And that's not to mention that there's no doubt whatsoever that, at the convention, the McGovern & Wallace delegates would revolt & opt to vote for other candidates, or might end up siding with Humphrey instead.

This is one of those concepts that just... it wouldn't work.