McGovern won the youth vote, but barely.
The youth of the 1968-74 period that served in Vietnam have not forgotten being spat on and called murderers after coming home from Vietnam. Although he was a decent man and not to blame for this, McGovern is associated, however unfairly, with this disrespect for our returning vets, many of whom never forgave the Democratic Party for harboring persons they viewed as traitors to America (e. g. Jane Fonda and Tom Hayden).
He was sure back in the sixties that everyone was hip
Then they sent him off to Vietnam on his senior trip
And they forced him to become a man while he was still a boy
And in each wave of tragedy he waited for the joy
Now this world may change around him
But he just can't change no more
