1996 Question

[walleye26]

Why/how did the GOP abandon Dole in 96? Dole wasn’t like really toxic, so was it just that Clinton was popular and everybody knew he would win?

[darklordoftech]

Democratic ads attacked “the Dole-Gingrich budget, so Republicans in districts/states where that budget was unpopular started saying that they didn’t support Dole and Gingrich. It was like if Joe Manchin ran an ad saying, “I don’t support Schumer and Pelosi.”

[Old Man Willow]

Clinton was polling at Reagan 1984 levels throughout most of late summer/autumn so they felt it was unwinnable. If they could see into the future that Clinton would only win by 8 points they (and Dole himself, who you can tell by watching the debates wasn't trying at all) probably would have fought much harder.

[TheElectoralBoobyPrize]

Clinton had peace, prosperity, and no fatigue factor (Democrats had only been in one term, and it was their first one in twelve years). Republicans were smart to focus on congressional races.

[Obama-Biden Democrat]

Clinton was up by 10-15 points in summer 1992 and 15-20 in summer 1996, there was a big turnout collapse both times.

[SingingAnalyst]

I don't know that the GOP abandoned Dole (85% of self-described Republicans voted for Dole, up from 77% who voted Bush in 1992). It's just that Dole didn't generate much enthusiasm, particularly among younger voters.