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The North Dakota Primary + Potential Polling
March 27th
As Gary Hart stared at his television screen, a mix of excitement and happiness spread across his face. His biggest national rival in the Democratic primary was dropping out! While Jackson was popular, his support was largely concentrated in heavily African-American areas, and Hart could beat him everywhere else. Not only that, but Jackson had a past of making controversial statements, and those could come back to haunt him later. Then a thought bolted into Hart’s head the North Dakota Caucus! Due to different time zones, North Dakota’s primary wouldn’t be starting for an hour in most counties, and in a few more, it would be starting in two hours. That gave voters a chance to hear about Iacocca’s dropout and potentially vote for Hart. Both Hart and Jackson hadn’t spent much time campaigning in North Dakota, as Iacocca seemed to have an insurmountable lead in the state since he announced his campaign in 1987. However, there was only an hour to campaign, and nothing could be done except watch the results.
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Italics: Dropped out
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After seeing the results of the primary Hart laughed to himself. He saw that even after dropping out, Iacocca still got 34% of the vote, and the former populist campaigns of Paul Simon and Al Gore won 6.5% of voters who were dissatisfied with everyone else after Iacocca dropped out. Still, it didn’t matter, because a win is a win, and Hart hopes to use the win as momentum going into Connecticut.
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From A New York Times Article on July 28, 1988
Over the course of this incredibly competitive primary season, Lee Iacocca has been considered as a potential third party candidate, after he dropped out of the Democratic primaries and didn’t endorse anyone, it still seems possible. Due to this, we conducted polls exploring this possibility.
Who would you vote for between these three candidates?
Poll 1:
Gary Hart: 36.2%
Dan Quayle: 34.5%
Lee Iacocca: 29.3%
Poll 2:
Lee Iacocca: 35.8%
Dan Quayle: 33.7%
Jesse Jackson: 30.5%
Poll 3:
Gary Hart: 39.8%
George Bush: 35.1%
Lee Iacocca: 25.3%
Poll 4:
Gary Hart: 40.1%
Bob Dole: 32.1%
Lee Iacocca: 27.8%
Poll 5:
George Bush: 37.8%
Jesse Jackson: 32.1%
Lee Iacocca: 30.1%
Poll 6:
Bob Dole: 34.1%
Jesse Jackson: 33.2%
Lee Iacocca: 32.7%
————————————————————-
As Gary Hart stared at his television screen, a mix of excitement and happiness spread across his face. His biggest national rival in the Democratic primary was dropping out! While Jackson was popular, his support was largely concentrated in heavily African-American areas, and Hart could beat him everywhere else. Not only that, but Jackson had a past of making controversial statements, and those could come back to haunt him later. Then a thought bolted into Hart’s head the North Dakota Caucus! Due to different time zones, North Dakota’s primary wouldn’t be starting for an hour in most counties, and in a few more, it would be starting in two hours. That gave voters a chance to hear about Iacocca’s dropout and potentially vote for Hart. Both Hart and Jackson hadn’t spent much time campaigning in North Dakota, as Iacocca seemed to have an insurmountable lead in the state since he announced his campaign in 1987. However, there was only an hour to campaign, and nothing could be done except watch the results.
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Results of the Democratic Cacus in North Dakota
Gary Hart: 40.8%
Lee Iacocca: 34.2%
Jesse Jackson: 18.5%
Al Gore: 4.3%
Paul Simon: 2.2%
Gary Hart: 40.8%
Lee Iacocca: 34.2%
Jesse Jackson: 18.5%
Al Gore: 4.3%
Paul Simon: 2.2%
Italics: Dropped out
————————————————————
After seeing the results of the primary Hart laughed to himself. He saw that even after dropping out, Iacocca still got 34% of the vote, and the former populist campaigns of Paul Simon and Al Gore won 6.5% of voters who were dissatisfied with everyone else after Iacocca dropped out. Still, it didn’t matter, because a win is a win, and Hart hopes to use the win as momentum going into Connecticut.
————————————————————
From A New York Times Article on July 28, 1988
Over the course of this incredibly competitive primary season, Lee Iacocca has been considered as a potential third party candidate, after he dropped out of the Democratic primaries and didn’t endorse anyone, it still seems possible. Due to this, we conducted polls exploring this possibility.
Who would you vote for between these three candidates?
Poll 1:
Gary Hart: 36.2%
Dan Quayle: 34.5%
Lee Iacocca: 29.3%
Poll 2:
Lee Iacocca: 35.8%
Dan Quayle: 33.7%
Jesse Jackson: 30.5%
Poll 3:
Gary Hart: 39.8%
George Bush: 35.1%
Lee Iacocca: 25.3%
Poll 4:
Gary Hart: 40.1%
Bob Dole: 32.1%
Lee Iacocca: 27.8%
Poll 5:
George Bush: 37.8%
Jesse Jackson: 32.1%
Lee Iacocca: 30.1%
Poll 6:
Bob Dole: 34.1%
Jesse Jackson: 33.2%
Lee Iacocca: 32.7%
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- Gentleman Biaggi
- Word Count: 440