1960: Goldwater/Underwood Vs. Kennedy/Johnson

[MATTROSE94]

Assuming that Barry Goldwater somehow defeats Richard Nixon for the Republican nomination in 1960 and picks West Virginia Governor Cecil Underwood as his running mate, how would he have done against John F. Kennedy?

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Would've lost, sadly enough. Can't produce a map since I'm unsure on how this would play out. I think Kennedy still takes West Virginia despite Underwood's presence.

[MATTROSE94]

Would've lost, sadly enough. Can't produce a map since I'm unsure on how this would play out. I think Kennedy still takes West Virginia despite Underwood's presence.

I think that Goldwater would have definately picked up Arkansas, North Carolina and South Carolina, but would have likely lost some ground in New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine. I'm kinda dicey on West Virginia though, as Kennedy only won it with a 52-47 margin against Nixon. Underwood's presence on the ticket might have possibly flipped the state, but it was still reliably Democratic overall in 1960.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Would've lost, sadly enough. Can't produce a map since I'm unsure on how this would play out. I think Kennedy still takes West Virginia despite Underwood's presence.

I think that Goldwater would have definately picked up Arkansas, North Carolina and South Carolina, but would have likely lost some ground in New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine. I'm kinda dicey on West Virginia though, as Kennedy only won it with a 52-47 margin against Nixon. Underwood's presence on the ticket might have possibly flipped the state, but it was still reliably Democratic overall in 1960.

I'm thinking Nixon/Underwood could easily take it. As you can see from the results, Nixon did pretty well in the Upper South--Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia--and could probably get WV with Underwood at his side. But Goldwater, I dunno. To West Virginia, New Deal coal miners, Goldy's rhetoric probably wouldn't go over so well.

[barfbag]

Goldwater does a little bit better.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Goldwater makes some statements that make him look extreme and so he loses a great deal of support in the North and elsewhere.   His votes for the Civil Rights Acts of 57 and 60 keeps his support modest in the Deep South, but his conservatism does help him in parts of the South and West.  Ironically, he takes away support from some who would otherwise vote Unpledged in MS and hands the state to Kennedy, but he does become the first Republican candidate to win SC.  Republicans complain of vote fraud in TX.

Kennedy/Johnson            432   54%
Goldwater/Underwood     105   45%

[DS0816]

Re: 1960: Goldwater/Underwood Vs. Kennedy/Johnson

Democratic pickup for John Kennedy.

• Real National Margin: D+0.17 (Shift from 1956: D+15.57)
• Scenario National Margin/i] D+…

I admit to not being in the mood to present a scenario map. But, to get an idea, just take the states in Richard Nixon's 1960 Republican column under 10 percentage points and flip the majority … or maybe even all of them. (Definitely with Florida and Virginia which, in 1960, made JFK the first elected Democrat to not carry these states.)

To answer this further, one should figure whether Barry Goldwater, first elected to the U.S. Senate the very same year as JFK, would have ran in 1960 as he did in 1964. This country had the Recession of 1958. It helped set in motion getting the White House party to flip from Republican to Democratic. Add to this being in a realigning period from 1932 to 1964 for the Democrats, it further reinforces that Kennedy would have defeated Goldwater.

[barfbag]

I forgot to mention my popular vote total of 57-43 for Kennedy.