Which Candidate to defeat an Incumbent President over the last 50 years ran the Best Campaign?

[dw93]

I would say Clinton. He challenged and defeated a rather successful incumbent and did so pretty soundly and also had a third party candidate in the loop that could've taken a lot of his support if he were to run a worse campaign.

[Mr. Smith]

Reagan.

No one else managed to lie so successfully and completely and completely alter the political landscape.

Clinton kinda sagged in the middle, Carter ran a pre-victory lap and almost blew it, and Biden was full on Luigi-wins-by-doing-nothing.

Hate to say it, but Reagan was the only one that was consistently good. It's true that Carter did not leave a good impression...but he really should have easily held The South and The Northeast at least.

[OSR stands with Israel]

It has to be Clinton given that:

1. The Democratic path to 270 was much harder in 1992 than the the GOP was in 1980 given Democrats had to basically break the GOP lock on the electoral college while Carter's 1976 win showed many vulnerabilities

2. The fundamentals were better in 1980 than 1992 given the economy had already started to turn around in 1992 and there was no foreign policy crises while in 1980 the economy was mired in Stagflation along side the Iran Hostage Crises

3. At the beginning of the campaign sometime in mid June , Clinton was lagging in 3rd behind Bush and Perot while Reagan had already taken the lead in the average of polls by then.


So yah my ranking would be:

1. Clinton 1992
2. Reagan 1980
3. Biden 2020
4. Carter 1976


Hell I would argue the Clinton 1992 campaign was the greatest general election campaign in the tv era.

[Kahane's Grave Is A Gender-Neutral Bathroom]

It has to be Clinton given that:

1. The Democratic path to 270 was much harder in 1992 than the the GOP was in 1980 given Democrats had to basically break the GOP lock on the electoral college while Carter's 1976 win showed many vulnerabilities

2. The fundamentals were better in 1980 than 1992 given the economy had already started to turn around in 1992 and there was no foreign policy crises while in 1980 the economy was mired in Stagflation along side the Iran Hostage Crises

3. At the beginning of the campaign sometime in mid June , Clinton was lagging in 3rd behind Bush and Perot while Reagan had already taken the lead in the average of polls by then.


So yah my ranking would be:

1. Clinton 1992
2. Reagan 1980
3. Biden 2020
4. Carter 1976


Hell I would argue the Clinton 1992 campaign was the greatest general election campaign in the tv era.

I mean Obama won with like 8% unemployment.

[OSR stands with Israel]

It has to be Clinton given that:

1. The Democratic path to 270 was much harder in 1992 than the the GOP was in 1980 given Democrats had to basically break the GOP lock on the electoral college while Carter's 1976 win showed many vulnerabilities

2. The fundamentals were better in 1980 than 1992 given the economy had already started to turn around in 1992 and there was no foreign policy crises while in 1980 the economy was mired in Stagflation along side the Iran Hostage Crises

3. At the beginning of the campaign sometime in mid June , Clinton was lagging in 3rd behind Bush and Perot while Reagan had already taken the lead in the average of polls by then.


So yah my ranking would be:

1. Clinton 1992
2. Reagan 1980
3. Biden 2020
4. Carter 1976


Hell I would argue the Clinton 1992 campaign was the greatest general election campaign in the tv era.

I mean Obama won with like 8% unemployment.

Obama’s 2012 campaign was great too but Obama really never made the sort of comeback Bill did and plus a Democratic Party path to victory was much easier by 2012 than it was in 1992. I’d say Obama 2012 was the best re-election campaign in the tv age

[America Needs a 13-6 Progressive SCOTUS]

It has to be Bill Clinton, since he literally defeated an incumbent who had massive foreign policy wins happen during their Presidency, and by a not ultra-close margin, and with a 3rd party that took tons of votes that mostly would have went to him in a 2 way race as well.

Joe Biden on the other hand ran the worst campaign of these 4, almost blowing an election during a pandemic that the incumbent mismanaged to the result of over a million deaths and massive economic destruction, after said incumbent already had leagues of scandals and issues through their Presidency and before it that would have mattered regardless of what the fundamentals were.

[Alben Barkley]

It has to be Clinton given that:

1. The Democratic path to 270 was much harder in 1992 than the the GOP was in 1980 given Democrats had to basically break the GOP lock on the electoral college while Carter's 1976 win showed many vulnerabilities

2. The fundamentals were better in 1980 than 1992 given the economy had already started to turn around in 1992 and there was no foreign policy crises while in 1980 the economy was mired in Stagflation along side the Iran Hostage Crises

3. At the beginning of the campaign sometime in mid June , Clinton was lagging in 3rd behind Bush and Perot while Reagan had already taken the lead in the average of polls by then.


So yah my ranking would be:

1. Clinton 1992
2. Reagan 1980
3. Biden 2020
4. Carter 1976


Hell I would argue the Clinton 1992 campaign was the greatest general election campaign in the tv era.

I agree, but it also is impressive that Reagan nearly swept Carter in the South. By incredibly narrow margins in nearly every state at that.

[Independents for George Santos]

It has to be Bill Clinton, since he literally defeated an incumbent who had massive foreign policy wins happen during their Presidency, and by a not ultra-close margin, and with a 3rd party that took tons of votes that mostly would have went to him in a 2 way race as well.

Joe Biden on the other hand ran the worst campaign of these 4, almost blowing an election during a pandemic that the incumbent mismanaged to the result of over a million deaths and massive economic destruction, after said incumbent already had leagues of scandals and issues through their Presidency and before it that would have mattered regardless of what the fundamentals were.

Can you really call Biden's campaign worse than Carter's, who nearly blew a 30-point lead and who ended up with closer margins in both the popular vote and the electoral vote?

[Alben Barkley]

It has to be Bill Clinton, since he literally defeated an incumbent who had massive foreign policy wins happen during their Presidency, and by a not ultra-close margin, and with a 3rd party that took tons of votes that mostly would have went to him in a 2 way race as well.

Joe Biden on the other hand ran the worst campaign of these 4, almost blowing an election during a pandemic that the incumbent mismanaged to the result of over a million deaths and massive economic destruction, after said incumbent already had leagues of scandals and issues through their Presidency and before it that would have mattered regardless of what the fundamentals were.

Can you really call Biden's campaign worse than Carter's, who nearly blew a 30-point lead and who ended up with closer margins in both the popular vote and the electoral vote?

To be fair, some of that can be credited to Ford running a genuinely strong campaign and successfully distancing himself from Nixon.

But yes, Carter's campaign came closer to losing after starting from a stronger position, so it seems dubious at best to say Biden's campaign was worse.

[OSR stands with Israel]

It has to be Bill Clinton, since he literally defeated an incumbent who had massive foreign policy wins happen during their Presidency, and by a not ultra-close margin, and with a 3rd party that took tons of votes that mostly would have went to him in a 2 way race as well.

Joe Biden on the other hand ran the worst campaign of these 4, almost blowing an election during a pandemic that the incumbent mismanaged to the result of over a million deaths and massive economic destruction, after said incumbent already had leagues of scandals and issues through their Presidency and before it that would have mattered regardless of what the fundamentals were.

Can you really call Biden's campaign worse than Carter's, who nearly blew a 30-point lead and who ended up with closer margins in both the popular vote and the electoral vote?

Also the GOP was in far worse shape in 1975-76 then they were even in 2008-09 let alone 2020 and add to the fact that the unemployment rate was higher on election day in 1976 than 2020 and the nation was far less polarized in 1976 than 2020, yah 1976 was a more almost blown election than 2020.

[President Johnson]

Am I a hack when I say Biden? Clinton had more fundamentals going in his favor on election day, especially that he was running to prevent a fourth Republican term. Meanwhile, Biden ousted an incumbent after a single four year term of the party (only other time that happened post-1900 was in 1980, when Reagan beat Carter after a single Democratic term) with the most votes ever recorded by far. At least Biden's win was more impressive, since it's also the first time since 1932 a party lost a trifecta to another trifecta in just four years.

In terms of campaign operation and speeches, Clinton was better because he's more charismatic than Biden. He's only topped by Obama in that category (Reagan still on that league as well).

[dw93]

Am I a hack when I say Biden? Clinton had more fundamentals going in his favor on election day, especially that he was running to prevent a fourth Republican term. Meanwhile, Biden ousted an incumbent after a single four year term of the party (only other time that happened post-1900 was in 1980, when Reagan beat Carter after a single Democratic term) with the most votes ever recorded by far. At least Biden's win was more impressive, since it's also the first time since 1932 a party lost a trifecta to another trifecta in just four years.

In terms of campaign operation and speeches, Clinton was better because he's more charismatic than Biden. He's only topped by Obama in that category (Reagan still on that league as well).

You're not a hack but I still disagree with you about Biden having the best campaign. Even if there was a lack of presence on the campaign trial due to COVID, there was so much more than just Trump's poor COVID handling and bigotry to work with and use in terms of defeating Trump and I don't think the Biden campaign effectively used it.

[Progressive Pessimist]

Clinton, no doubt. Sure, he was running with Republican party fatigue in his favor but he also had a potential spoiler with Perot and was harangued with numerous controversies and scandals that could have derailed his campaign. Yet he prevailed, pretty significantly too and the core of his campaign has become legendary for four words: "it's the economy, stupid."