Partisan loyalty vs ideological loyalty: The 1928 election

[So rightwing that I broke the Political Compass!]

I'm curious how self-identified conservatives, libertarians and liberals would have voted in the 1928 election.

Al Smith, while not really a Bourbon Democrat, was substantially more laissez-faire then Hoover. Most clearly demonstrated through his staunch opposition to tariffs vs Hoover's advocacy of them(they were in fact the cornerstone of Hoover's campaign). Ideologically speaking one would thus expect libertarian/conservative support for Smith, and substantial Democratic support for Hoover(coupled with a general divide within those ideologies between protectionists and non-protectionists).

However partisan loyalty seems to override that, since in discussions of the the two men Republicans tend to be supportive of Hoover and Democrats of Smith. In no small part because of liberals/Democrats having retroactively cast Hoover as a Laissez-faire ideologue, and Republicans/conservatives reacting to that by being supportive of him.

Then theirs the so called social issues... at the time they were prohibition(supported by Hoover) and Al Smith being an ev0l Catlick. I think their would be pretty much universal agreement among all ideologies in 2012 that these things count in Smith's favour, if anything.

[tpfkaw]

Well yeah, the version of the 1920s and 1930s taught in schools is an essentially revisionist account, as you point out.

[RIP Robert H Bork]

Al Smith (conservative)

[Mechaman]

Smith (Libertarian)

Considering Hoover's bigoted campaign and despicable policy platform this would probably be one of the easiest votes I would ever cast.  Hell, I probably would've voted for FDR over Hoover.

[TNF]

Calling Smith a libertarian or a 'classical liberal' is a bit disingenuous. Up until his loss in 1928, he was widely regarded as a proto-New Dealer, a progressive, or a liberal in the American sense of the word. He fought for regulation of business and was supported by labor unions in New York state. He only made a turn to the right *after* his loss to Hoover and his subsequent association with New York's financial elite. For most of his public career, Smith was a center-left politician that oddly enough went on to become a darling of the hard-right in a Joe Lieberman-esque fashion (though even Lieberman was more conservative for more of his career than Smith; to put this into context, this would be like Sherrod Brown deciding to become a supply sider tomorrow after years of being a liberal Democrat).

And his opposition to tariffs wasn't really anything new for the Democratic Party, either. The Democrats only became economic nationalists starting in the 1970s. Prior to that, the agricultural wing of the party, along with it's friends among the liberal intelligensia of the time beat the drum for free trade, from Andrew Jackson to William Jennings Bryan, etc.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Both were moderate progressives, but the tariff and prohibition issues would be enough for me to vote Smith.

[Napoleon]

Im liberal and would pick the Democrat.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Smith was to the left of Hoover, and certainly a huge improvement over John Davis.

[Хahar 🤔]

I'm not a protectionist.

[Dr. Cynic]

I think I probably would have voted Smith on the basis that I would have been a wet on prohibition and I would've soured on Republican policies after Harding and Coolidge.

[stegosaurus]

With the benefit of hindsight it's easy to vote for Smith over the incompetent Hoover. Without it becomes a tough call. I am a protectionist who loves to drink. I think in the end I would have voted for the fellow Catholic and hoped for the best.

[Napoleon]

I'm not a protectionist.

Or a prohibitionist.

[TJ in Oregon]

I probably would have voted for Smith simply because the thought of having a Catholic president in 1928 would have seemed so radical that I wouldn't be able to pass it up. Oddly, I probably would have also opposed repealing the prohibition (I have an occasionally burning hatred for alcohol) if I were alive in 1928, so I would be the strange prohibitionist Catholic Al Smith voter.

[k-onmmunist]

Even though I'm something of a protectionist, I'd vote Smith. The end of prohibition + more laissez-faire policies are much better than faux laissez-faire and anti-alcohol crap.

[I'm JewCon in name only.]

Conservative: Smith   . I deeply dislike Hoover.


Oh, and his great granddaughter too: