1988: Businessman Donald Trump vs. Senator Joe Biden

[FDB]

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[Vice President Christian Man]

I assume Biden will run as a Manchin-type Democrat, focusing primarily on his faith-based opposition to abortion, tough on drugs/crime and support for the WC and unions. He'd likely pick a Southern VP which would help in that region of the country. For the sake of this, lets say he chooses Governor Bill Clinton who gave the DNC reply to Reagan's SOTU earlier that year and was seen as a rising star. Trump on the other hand isn't predictable. For this scenario I predict he'd run a similar campaign that he did IOTL in 2016 but socially liberal as the Christian Right never grew under a Bush Sr. presidency and more populist economically, favoring UHC and a wealth tax since Voodoo Economics didn't hypnotize the GOP. For his VP, let's go with Senator Pete Wilson who would reinforce his tough on immigration stance. Instead of hammering China, he'd hammer Japan which would help him in parts of the Rust Belt although the extent of the farm crisis prevents his appeal from spreading further despite promising bailouts. The P.V. is a draw but let's say Trump narrowly wins it. It'll likely be a 49-49 draw at this point. Ironically WV is Biden's strongest state as Biden would appeal much better than the Rockefeller Rep heir Trump.

[Agonized-Statism]

Businessman Donald Trump (R-NY) / Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN)
Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) / Governor Jim Blanchard (D-MI) ✓

They're neck-and-neck on Japan bashing, being "tough on crime", "tough on immigration", and trying to court the religious right, but Trump's inevitable scandals tip the scales.