Ford wins in ‘76. Candidates in ‘80

Your argument is predicated on Carter being discredited producing a lock on the nomination for a liberal candidate. I'm pointing out that's a process which also happened IOTL, and didn't produce a lock for a liberal candidate, even in a one-on-one with a boomer neophyte. It's a more complex series of factors than you're making out.

Thing is, in this timeline, Democrats have learned that they can't win either with a radical like McGovern or with a Southern evangelical like Carter. Thus, an old-style liberal would look attractive to primary voters.
 
Thing is, in this timeline, Democrats have learned that they can't win either with a radical like McGovern or with a Southern evangelical like Carter. Thus, an old-style liberal would look attractive to primary voters.

You assume primary voters are rational actors (in game theory use of the term). Some of them yeah, but even then the electability argument cuts all kinds of ways that don’t lead to your hypothesis.
 
You assume primary voters are rational actors (in game theory use of the term). Some of them yeah, but even then the electability argument cuts all kinds of ways that don’t lead to your hypothesis.
I think who emerges as the Democratic nominee in this scenario will be determined by how Democratic primary voters interpret the losses of '68, '72, and '76, mainly 72 and 76 as McGovern lost 49 states and Carter would have lost an election that should've been a landslide Democratic victory on par with 1964 given all the issues the GOP had at that time.
 
I think who emerges as the Democratic nominee in this scenario will be determined by how Democratic primary voters interpret the losses of '68, '72, and '76, mainly 72 and 76 as McGovern lost 49 states and Carter would have lost an election that should've been a landslide Democratic victory on par with 1964 given all the issues the GOP had at that time.

The Democrats were favoured to win 1976 but, certainly, not as overwhelmingly as you think, read https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/why-did-ford-do-so-well-in-1976.331846/#post-9840751
However, it still is the case that a 1976 loss would discredit Carter and, more generally, Southern moderates. One problem with Carter was that, as a Southern evangelical, he was distrusted by Northern liberals.
 
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