Elections in which you’d have a hard time deciding who to vote for

[Alben Barkley]

Just going modern elections, with no hindsight:

1952
1956
1972
1988

That’s it.

1972 would have been the hardest as I would not have liked Nixon but also thought McGovern was too extreme and not as qualified to be president. That’s obviously without knowing just how crooked Nixon was.

I would respect Ike, making the 50s elections harder, but Truman would have likely kept me voting Democratic in 1952. I might have been more liable to defect in 1956, not sure.

1988 would be a case where I would respect the experience of Bush and especially his foreign policy credentials at a time when the Cold War was coming to an end, but be put off by his campaign. If the more moderate, non-Reaganite Bush from 1980 was running, I would be more likely to vote for him.