WI: Debates in 1964, 1968 and 1972

How might the U.S. presidential elections of 1964, 1968 and 1972 play out if Johnson debated Goldwater or if Nixon debated Humphrey or McGovern? The outcomes of '72 and '64 probably wouldn't change, but 1968 was a very close election.
 
How might the U.S. presidential elections of 1964, 1968 and 1972 play out if Johnson debated Goldwater or if Nixon debated Humphrey or McGovern? The outcomes of '72 and '64 probably wouldn't change, but 1968 was a very close election.
Would Wallace be included in '68?
 
Well, in '68, Wallace most definitely won't be included. As for how the election changes...Well, as you said, '68 was close. Given how skilled a speaker Humphrey was, and given Nixon's famous incompetence with televised debate, I think HHH might just take it.
 
Well, in '68, Wallace most definitely won't be included. As for how the election changes...Well, as you said, '68 was close. Given how skilled a speaker Humphrey was, and given Nixon's famous incompetence with televised debate, I think HHH might just take it.
Agreed, Wallace would take votes away from Nixon and civil rights groups might boycott the debate if Wallace were included.
 
Were debates in '48, '52 and '56 ever considered? Television wasn't very popular in '48 and '52, but there was a Republican primary debate on the radio between Dewey and Stassen in 1948.
 
The problem is that in 1964 and 1972 LBJ and Nixon respectively were overwhelming front-runners and had no incentive whatever to help Goldwater or McGovern by letting them debate. This was also pretty much true of Nixon for most of the 1968 campaign; only near the very end did it become close.
 
Were debates in '48, '52 and '56 ever considered? Television wasn't very popular in '48 and '52, but there was a Republican primary debate on the radio between Dewey and Stassen in 1948.

There was a Stevenson-Kefauver televised primary debate in 1956.
 
Agreed, Wallace would take votes away from Nixon and civil rights groups might boycott the debate if Wallace were included.
All the same, Wallace received 8.4% of the electoral votes,
and 13.5% of the popular vote*
*corrected

and may have been polling higher earlier during election season.
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/showelection.php?year=1968

Now, I personally think he's a bum. He's asking people to go backwards.

But hard to think of logical reason to exclude him.
 
Last edited:
All the same, Wallace received 8.4% of the final popular vote

No, 13.5%. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_1968

Anyway, Nixon would not have agreed to a debate at all in 1968 (he was leading Humphrey substantially until very late in the campaign) let alone agree to the participation of Wallace. "According to O.R.C., [Opinion Research Corporation, which did Nixon's polling--DT] over half the Wallace voters preferred Nixon to Humphrey and a majority acknowledged they might switch choices before the election. This guided Nixon's strategy of appealing to the Wallace vote on the grounds that Wallace was a lost cause rather than by a direct attack on his principles." https://books.google.com/books?id=0RrsMRsvkHIC&pg=PA38
 
Top