Did Nixon actually underperform in 1968?

[Sir Mohamed]

Richard Nixon just barely managed to win the 1968 presidential election. Given the fundamentals of that year, shouldn't he have won a pretty substantial victory? The Vietnam War was still raging with record losses, turmoil at home, Democrats fiercely divided and Humphrey - as much as I like him - a lackluster candidate with little charisma winning the nomination through backroom deals at a convention overshadowed by riots so that the sitting prez couldn't even attend for security reasons.

Sure, Wallace was a wildcard in the race, though everything summed up must have lead to a bigger win for Nixon. Tbh, I think Rockefeller or Romney (without the scandal) would have won in a semi-landslide. Perhaps even Reagan, if he moderated in the GE.

[Sir Mohamed]

Yes, Nixon ran a terrible and unappealing campaign which was bailed out by fundamentals. He was leading in an enormous landslide over the summer and into early fall, and Humphrey ultimately recovered to within an inch of victory. Most likely Humphrey would've won had the campaign gone on for 1-2 more weeks.

I can't tell whether that's ironic. LOL

[Sir Mohamed]

I think that Humphrey ran a very strong campaign given how weak he was coming out of the convention. He did an excellent job of clawing back WWC voters in the north who might have potentially gone over to Wallace and also managed to win Maine which at that time was a fairly impressive feat for a Democrat given that it's something FDR wasn't able to pull off once and Johnson only did in the Goldwater landslide. Meanwhile Nixon ran an antiseptic stage managed campaign and probably came off as a coward for his refusal to debate. If HHH had had just another week he probably would have won easily.

The main reason he won ME - or only reason I should say - was Muskie. Don't think he would have otherwise.