Plausability and what if President Muskie 72

WI Muskie managed to avoid the tear issue and won the nomination?

Suppose Nixon's friends dubious action over the 68 peace talks and Agnew's crimes came out.

1) Could Nixon have lost?

2) What would be the impact in later years?
 
My own guess is that Muskie could well have won the presidency--if the election had been held in 1971. In 1972, with unemployment down to 5.3 percent by November, https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/data/UNRATE.txt with wage-price controls *apparently* keeping inflation in check, with Nixon's diplomatic initiatives vis-à-vis China and the USSR, with the widespread belief that US involvement n Vietnam was winding down, and with Nixon's job approval ratings gradually increasing throughout 1972 (and always in positive territory throughout the year) http://historyinpieces.com/research/nixon-approval-ratings I think Nixon beats any Democrat, though Muskie does far better than McGovern.
 
WI Muskie managed to avoid the tear issue and won the nomination?

Suppose Nixon's friends dubious action over the 68 peace talks and Agnew's crimes came out.

1) Could Nixon have lost?

2) What would be the impact in later years?

I think Nixon could have lost if those two stories became public. You would have a Democratic president and a Democratic Congress. They might very well have passed a health care program. Muskie has to win reelection in the bad economic times of 1976.
 
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