Which election caused conservative dominance in USA 68 or 80

Which election made a bigger difference to American politics

  • 1968

    Votes: 7 17.9%
  • 1980

    Votes: 27 69.2%
  • neither

    Votes: 5 12.8%

  • Total voters
    39
  • Poll closed .
Which would have made a bigger difference to the overall political picture

1) Had Reagan's Alzhiemers hit him later, after nomination but visible during campaign I think Carter could have won.

2) Had the dubious actions of Nixon's people on the Vietnamese Peace issue that would almost have certainly elected Humphrey? It might even have been enough for Agnew's actions to have come out in October 68
 
While the signing of the "Civil Rights Act" by LBJ in '64 and Nixon's Southern Strategy began the unraveling of the New Deal Coalition, I would say 1980 with the election of Reagan was the start of the Conservative realignment.

The country was much more conservative post Reagan than it was pre Reagan, Reagan helped the GOP flipped the Senate for the first time in 25 years, where Nixon didn't help the GOP down ticket at all. Also, Nixon had liberal policies like the EPA and OSHA forced on him by a Democratic congress whereas Reagan was able to force a lot of right wing measures (tax cut of '81, deregulation, etc...) on a Democratic House.
 
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Towelie

Banned
1980, as this was the first election other than '72 where the Democrats started really losing the FDR/Truman Democrats. The malaise of the late 70s and the deindustrialization that occurred as a result of international competition utterly discredited the post war Liberal order. Nixon arguably ran to defend that order against the New Left in '72, and ran as someone who could run that Order more effectively in '68. Reagan ran to overturn that order and pointed to the failure of Carter (and this was a trend also seen in Britain when Thatcher triumphed over the incompetent Callaghan government because of the constant labor militancy that terrified people) as a way to point to something else.

Nixon was a Cold War conservative liberal, and arguably was a national conservative as well. Reagan was a movement conservative.

The rise of Reaganism and movement conservatism was a direct reaction to the collapse of the FDR liberal order and the rise of the New Left. Nixon still operated within the confines of the liberal order and upheld it through his actions. He did not try to roll back the state like Reagan did. Reagan instead revolutionized the status quo of the American government. Clinton, Bush, and Obama all upheld Reaganism to different extents.

Trump has indicated going in a different direction on issues like trade and immigration, seemingly more like a remnant of the Old Old Old American Right of Calvin Coolidge rather than the Alt Right, but by and large, his appointments and actions so far indicate someone who would like to fuse the National Conservatism of Nixon within the core confines of modern day movement conservatism.
 
Trump has indicated going in a different direction on issues like trade and immigration, seemingly more like a remnant of the Old Old Old American Right of Calvin Coolidge rather than the Alt Right, but by and large, his appointments and actions so far indicate someone who would like to fuse the National Conservatism of Nixon within the core confines of modern day movement conservatism.

I would argue Carter did the same thing Trump is doing now as far as "going in another direction" is concerned. Trade and immigration for Trump is what deregulating the Trucking, railroad, and airline industries was for Carter. Carter also wasn't too friendly to unions either, thus why they endorsed Reagan in 1980.
 
It was more a gradual force that could have even been different as it was, and just so happened to evolve as it did because of events and happenstance.
 
It was more a gradual force that could have even been different as it was, and just so happened to evolve as it did because of events and happenstance.

It happened in phases.

1968 was the first, apparently reversed in 1976, but coming back, more forcefully, in 1980. Second time they took the Senate as well as the White House
1980 seemed to be reversed in 1992, but in 1994 the Dems lost the House as well. They held on enough to re-elect Clinton, but only to lose narrowly in 2000.
2000 was apparently reversed in 2008, but the Dems soon lost Congress, and have now lost the Presidency as well.

Also, each successive winner has been further right than the last. Reagan was further right than Nixon, and Trump looks like being further right than Reagan. Two steps forward, one step back, each time.
 
1980!!! Despite his rhetoric, Nixon was a moderately liberal Republican who accepted and worked within the New Deal political paradigm. Even in 1960 JFK (who basically was a conservative Northeastern Democrat in 1960) ran to Nixon's right on some issues. Also Nixon worked for Nixon and gave no down-ballot boosts to Republicans. 1968 was important symbolically and in determining how and when we would exit Vietnam, but it was not politically transformative. It was during the Carter admin that the New Deal paradigm collapsed and Reagan capitalized on that opportunity to create a new paradigm.
 
1968 intensified the divide between the moderate/liberal republican establishment (ex. mixed views over Nixon's SCOTUS picks) and the conservative grassroots led by figures such as William F. Buckley Jr, Ronald Reagan, etc.

1980 was the year when the conservative grassroots ended up electing one of their own in the White House and the liberal republicans diverted their support to the independent campaign of John Anderson.
 
It happened in phases.

1968 was the first, apparently reversed in 1976, but coming back, more forcefully, in 1980. Second time they took the Senate as well as the White House
1980 seemed to be reversed in 1992, but in 1994 the Dems lost the House as well. They held on enough to re-elect Clinton, but only to lose narrowly in 2000.
2000 was apparently reversed in 2008, but the Dems soon lost Congress, and have now lost the Presidency as well.

I would argue '76 was a bump in the realignment, while '92, '94, and 2000 were the result of the 1968 and 1980 realignments.

Also, each successive winner has been further right than the last. Reagan was further right than Nixon, and Trump looks like being further right than Reagan. Two steps forward, one step back, each time.
Agreed. Reagan was to the right of Nixon/Ford, and while HW Bush was to the left of Reagan, Dubya was to the right of both of them, and Trump is to the right of Dubya.
 
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