If No Watergate, who wins 1976 election?

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In terms of the economy the period 1977 through 1981 was marked by double digit inflation, double digit interest rates, and increasing high unemployment. I'm not saying it was all President Carter's fault, but some of it was due to how the Carter Administration handled the economy. Someone else in there as President at the time might have handled the economy issues differently and kept it from being as bad as it was in OTL.

Also President Carter made some very big mistakes that angered a lot of Americans.

He gave amnesty to draft dodgers from the Viet Nam War era. That angered those who had served in Viet Nam and the families of those who died in Viet Nam.

Carter gave the Panama Canal to Panama. A lot of Americans felt it was "our canal" because The United States built the Panama Canal.

President Carter made a number of mistakes like that and it angered the American people and hurt him a lot when he ran for re-election.

Then there was the Iranian hostage situation where Iran took the staff of the US embassy hostage for 444 days. Carter had by the way scaled back the military. I think one reason the Iranians felt confident about doing that is they viewed President Carter and America as being weak and thought we wouldn't fight back.

Had someone else, Democrat or Republican, been elected in 1976 they probably wouldn't have made those kinds of mistakes and would have handled things differently, and they might well have been re-elected in 1980.
 
TMOT, Carter might not have been the best prez to start with, but I think it's safe to say anyone in office at that time would've had a tough go. Many of the worst things would've happened anyway, and any president would make decisions that anger Americans. An incumbent victory in 1980 is still possible, but alot of people would agree that it's unlikely.
 
Reagan / Connaly 76 (Nixons approval ratings were in the 60's before watergate and he was reelected with 60% of the vote; because of his popularity especially in the GOP Reagan wouldve had to pick a veep pleasable to tricky dick, yet acceptable to both conservatives and moderates. Connaly, leader of democrats for Nixon, wouldve been that veep.). Jerry Brown or HHH wouldve been dem nominee, assuming EMK steers clear of this one. 1980 wouldve been interesting; The Gipper vs EMK wouldve been the debate of a lifetime. (Gary Hart or Ferraro probably getting vp nod.)
 

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Reagan / Connaly 76 (Nixons approval ratings were in the 60's before watergate and he was reelected with 60% of the vote; because of his popularity especially in the GOP Reagan wouldve had to pick a veep pleasable to tricky dick, yet acceptable to both conservatives and moderates. Connaly, leader of democrats for Nixon, wouldve been that veep.). Jerry Brown or HHH wouldve been dem nominee, assuming EMK steers clear of this one. 1980 wouldve been interesting; The Gipper vs EMK wouldve been the debate of a lifetime. (Gary Hart or Ferraro probably getting vp nod.)
 
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