Is there any way Goldwater could have won in '64?

[zoz]

Could Barry Goldwater have won if he voted for the CRA? Or, is there any other way he possibly could have won?

[NHI]

Doubtful. The country wasn't going to elect a new president right after the death of JFK.
A more interesting alternate history would have been a race between JFK and Goldwater. I think JFK would have prevailed, though it may not have been quite the landslide loss Goldwater suffered to Johnson.

From what I've read Goldwater and JFK planned to crisscross the country and campaign together; holding Lincoln/Douglas style debates. That would have been something!

[zoz]

Doubtful. The country wasn't going to elect a new president right after the death of JFK.
A more interesting alternate history would have been a race between JFK and Goldwater. I think JFK would have prevailed, though it may not have been quite the landslide loss Goldwater suffered to Johnson.

From what I've read Goldwater and JFK planned to crisscross the country and campaign together; holding Lincoln/Douglas style debates. That would have been something!

That would've been amazing to see. It could have changed the way campaigns are done in the modern era

[KaiserDave]

Goldwater apparently was very excited for a campaign against Kennedy

[zzz]

A JFK re-election in 1964 would’ve looked somewhat different than LBJ’s real life win, but i’m not sure in what respect. Would he have lost the deep south? Would Goldwater have been the nominee? Would Kennedy even have won?

[Pericles]

No, no Republican but especially not Goldwater could have won in 1964.

[Adjective-Statement]

A JFK re-election in 1964 would’ve looked somewhat different than LBJ’s real life win, but i’m not sure in what respect. Would he have lost the deep south? Would Goldwater have been the nominee? Would Kennedy even have won?

President John F. Kennedy (D-MA) / Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson (D-TX) ✓
Senator Barry Goldwater (R-AZ) / Governor William Scranton (R-PA)
Fmr. Governor Ross Barnett (SR-MS) / Fmr. Lieutenant Governor Garland Byrd (SR-GA)

IMO, it's another one of those elections with a southern regional party. IIRC people like Barnett and Wallace were planning to run, but their feud with the Kennedys was a bad look right after a Kennedy just got shot.

This is probably Goldwater's best chance. Kennedy's martyrdom was a powerful asset.

[Senator Incitatus]

No, not even without the assassination. Kennedy led Goldwater (and Rockefeller) in polls by massive margins in Aug. through Oct. '63. He was going to be re-elected.

[President Johnson]

Maybe if LBJ shot someone on Fifth Avenue. Otherwise, no. Even civil rights wouldn't have helped him. Rockefeller was a strong supporter of civil rights, but even he would have been defeated handily.

The only way this election could have become a tossup if Kennedy lived on, his affair with Ellen Rometsch was revealed and Rockefeller is the nominee with no remarriage.

[Alben Barkley]

I actually think Kennedy could have won by at least as much as LBJ. He was massively popular. It could very well have been a Reagan 1984 or Nixon 1972 type scenario. Especially if Kennedy was still shot, but just wounded. He still would have gotten a lot of public sympathy but he’s also more charismatic and popular than LBJ. Likely Mississippi and Alabama still don’t vote for him, at least if he continues pushing for Civil Rights as LBJ did, but almost certainly he wins Virginia and Florida, and just maybe he has a shot in Georgia, Louisiana, and South Carolina (in that order of likelihood). And he definitely would have won states like Maine and Vermont — those didn’t flip because of sympathy vote, they flipped because Goldwater was seen as a right-wing radical and dangerous warmonger. That would not have changed. A personally popular New Englander at the top of the ticket would have just made them even easier to flip.

That said, JFK may not have gone as hard on Goldwater as LBJ did. Maybe no “Daisy” ad for example. They seemed to personally like each other, whereas Goldwater and LBJ hated each other. That might have changed the tone of the campaign, especially if they carried out their plans to have civil debates with each other across the country. I still think JFK wins big, but if he didn’t win by as much as LBJ that would be why.

[Ritz]

The economy booming in the run up to the election made any challenger at a pretty big disadvantage in 1964.

[Orwell]

I think people are overestimating JFK his entire administration was built on lies I love him but it's not a sure thing

[KaiserDave]

I think people are overestimating JFK his entire administration was built on lies I love him but it's not a sure thing

It's less Kennedy being so strong and more Goldwater being a terrible GE candidate for that year.

[Orwell]

I think people are overestimating JFK his entire administration was built on lies I love him but it's not a sure thing

It's less Kennedy being so strong and more Goldwater being a terrible GE candidate for that year.

Without Kennedy dying I doubt the CRA comes to be a major issue which will help save face for Goldwater and still damage Kennedy.

[Quincy Kelley]

No GOPer was going to win in 1964.

[Wazza]

No GOPer was going to win in 1964.