1968 Presidential election. Cast your vote.

[SingingAnalyst]

I was 2, but with the benefit of my worldview at, say, age 12 (1978-9), I'd say Humphrey. The memories of civil rights activists in AL, MS in 1963-65 being savaged and killed would still be fresh in my mind, and would bother me. My contrarian streak being what it is, the knowledge that Humphrey was polling near zero among deep Southern whites would make me want to vote HHH.

[SingingAnalyst]

Wallace

Why?

Best way for me to express my opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

What in the hell has the fycking civil rights act done to your profits?!

Did Nixon support the CRA? I was unaware.

Not every Wallace voter, at least outside the deep South, was a rabid right-winger or racist (though of course many were). Some were simply fed up (in 1968!) with the two-party system. Also, I have read that quite a number of Bobby Kennedy's supporters switched their support to Wallace after Kennedy's death.

[SingingAnalyst]

Wallace

Why?

Best way for me to express my opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

What in the hell has the fycking civil rights act done to your profits?!

Did Nixon support the CRA? I was unaware.

Not every Wallace voter, at least outside the deep South, was a rabid right-winger or racist (though of course many were). Some were simply fed up (in 1968!) with the two-party system. Also, I have read that quite a number of Bobby Kennedy's supporters switched their support to Wallace after Kennedy's death.

The vast majority of ACTUAL "right-wingers" (as in, people who held views on the far right of the political spectrum) voted for Nixon, obviously; there was nothing overly "right-wing" about Wallace unless you consider being racist a "right-wing" position of kind, but common sense and my life experiences have reinforced the idea that doing so is inexplicably stupid.

As for the CRA, Nixon almost certainly supported it.  I remember reading several comments about his about how he needed to target Southern voters by not being obnoxious on issues like busing, but he would "never be able to reach the Wallace voter."

Excellent point. Wallace would probably have been remembered today primarily as a leading advocate of space exploration (I'm sure it's no accident the space museum is in Huntsville, AL) if not for his '68 campaign.