Is Mitt Romney the Al Smith of the GOP?

[Vice President Christian Man]

They have some similarities;
1. They were both their respective parties nominee 4 years before a charismatic politician would realign it (FDR in the case of Smith & Trump in the case of Romney).
2. Their VP nominees would later become party leaders in their respective chambers.
2. Both of them were seen as standard bearers for their party at one point.
3. Both were governors of states that were hostile to their national party that they governed in  at the time (although unlike MA with the modern GOP, NY was on its way to becoming reliably Dem).
4. They both endorsed the opposite parties nominees in future elections (Romney already indicated he'd vote for Biden if Trump's the nominee and it wouldn't have surprised me if he secretly voted for Biden in 2020).
5. They both lost their home states in their respective elections
6. Romney could be incorrectly classified as a liberal by future historians. Smith was no conservative despite that being a common misconception. However while the internet makes this less likely to become the case, Romney is still viewed by many as being more moderate than his legislative record.
7. I don't see Romney switching his party registration anytime soon which Smith never did.
8. The election was seen as a partial referendum of a controversial policy (Prohibition in 1928 and Obamacare in 2012). However unlike prohibition, Obamacare was not successfully repealed during Trump's presidency.

However there were differences:
1. Smith unlike Romney campaigned for FDR in 1932. While Romney met with Trump after his victory, he was opposed to him throughout.
2. While Smith brought in a new group of voters (Northeastern Catholics and I think he did well with Jews as well), I can't think of a group of voters that Romney brought in unless you count the disproportionately WWC protest voters who would later become part of Trump's base, or the mainly center-right suburbanites who voted for Obama in '08 but have since bolted from the party. I can't think of a significant Dem group that left the party over FDR unless you count conservative Southerners, although this didn't begin to take place on a large scale until after FDR's death.
3. Smith unlike Romney faced religious discrimination throughout his campaign. While some prominent evangelicals criticized Mormonism, there wasn't a massive boycott or Obama endorsement over it. Nor did any conspiracy theories become mainstream regarding it. It was more of an issue in 2008, although it remains unlikely that his religion would've caused a mass exodus in the way that Smith's did.

[Samof94]

They have some similarities;
1. They were both their respective parties nominee 4 years before a charismatic politician would realign it (FDR in the case of Smith & Trump in the case of Romney).
2. Their VP nominees would later become party leaders in their respective chambers.
2. Both of them were seen as standard bearers for their party at one point.
3. Both were governors of states that were hostile to their national party that they governed in  at the time (although unlike MA with the modern GOP, NY was on its way to becoming reliably Dem).
4. They both endorsed the opposite parties nominees in future elections (Romney already indicated he'd vote for Biden if Trump's the nominee and it wouldn't have surprised me if he secretly voted for Biden in 2020).
5. They both lost their home states in their respective elections
6. Romney could be incorrectly classified as a liberal by future historians. Smith was no conservative despite that being a common misconception. However while the internet makes this less likely to become the case, Romney is still viewed by many as being more moderate than his legislative record.
7. I don't see Romney switching his party registration anytime soon which Smith never did.
8. The election was seen as a partial referendum of a controversial policy (Prohibition in 1928 and Obamacare in 2012). However unlike prohibition, Obamacare was not successfully repealed during Trump's presidency.

However there were differences:
1. Smith unlike Romney campaigned for FDR in 1932. While Romney met with Trump after his victory, he was opposed to him throughout.
2. While Smith brought in a new group of voters (Northeastern Catholics and I think he did well with Jews as well), I can't think of a group of voters that Romney brought in unless you count the disproportionately WWC protest voters who would later become part of Trump's base, or the mainly center-right suburbanites who voted for Obama in '08 but have since bolted from the party. I can't think of a significant Dem group that left the party over FDR unless you count conservative Southerners, although this didn't begin to take place on a large scale until after FDR's death.
3. Smith unlike Romney faced religious discrimination throughout his campaign. While some prominent evangelicals criticized Mormonism, there wasn't a massive boycott or Obama endorsement over it. Nor did any conspiracy theories become mainstream regarding it. It was more of an issue in 2008, although it remains unlikely that his religion would've caused a mass exodus in the way that Smith's did.

Romney was a Northeastern Governor, I can easily imagine future historians screwing up his views for this reason.

[Vice President Christian Man]

They have some similarities;
1. They were both their respective parties nominee 4 years before a charismatic politician would realign it (FDR in the case of Smith & Trump in the case of Romney).
2. Their VP nominees would later become party leaders in their respective chambers.
2. Both of them were seen as standard bearers for their party at one point.
3. Both were governors of states that were hostile to their national party that they governed in  at the time (although unlike MA with the modern GOP, NY was on its way to becoming reliably Dem).
4. They both endorsed the opposite parties nominees in future elections (Romney already indicated he'd vote for Biden if Trump's the nominee and it wouldn't have surprised me if he secretly voted for Biden in 2020).
5. They both lost their home states in their respective elections
6. Romney could be incorrectly classified as a liberal by future historians. Smith was no conservative despite that being a common misconception. However while the internet makes this less likely to become the case, Romney is still viewed by many as being more moderate than his legislative record.
7. I don't see Romney switching his party registration anytime soon which Smith never did.
8. The election was seen as a partial referendum of a controversial policy (Prohibition in 1928 and Obamacare in 2012). However unlike prohibition, Obamacare was not successfully repealed during Trump's presidency.

However there were differences:
1. Smith unlike Romney campaigned for FDR in 1932. While Romney met with Trump after his victory, he was opposed to him throughout.
2. While Smith brought in a new group of voters (Northeastern Catholics and I think he did well with Jews as well), I can't think of a group of voters that Romney brought in unless you count the disproportionately WWC protest voters who would later become part of Trump's base, or the mainly center-right suburbanites who voted for Obama in '08 but have since bolted from the party. I can't think of a significant Dem group that left the party over FDR unless you count conservative Southerners, although this didn't begin to take place on a large scale until after FDR's death.
3. Smith unlike Romney faced religious discrimination throughout his campaign. While some prominent evangelicals criticized Mormonism, there wasn't a massive boycott or Obama endorsement over it. Nor did any conspiracy theories become mainstream regarding it. It was more of an issue in 2008, although it remains unlikely that his religion would've caused a mass exodus in the way that Smith's did.

Romney was a Northeastern Governor, I can easily imagine future historians screwing up his views for this reason.

I'm not confident that the GOP has ever nominated a liberal for President with the possible exception of Fremont. Even Eisenhower/Roosevelt were more moderates than liberals and at least on social issues they'd be seen as to the right of actual contemporary GOP liberals like Baker/Scott. Ford is frequently cited as someone who was more liberal which was true on social issues, but like Romney he agreed with most Republicans on fiscal/foreign policy issues. It shows how the stalwart conservative wing has gained power in recent times if we were to look at those type of politicians in that way.

[President Johnson]

In a sense, yes. I actually never thought about the comparison. Good post.

Maybe in a few years we're talking about a Mitt Romney Dinner before each presidential elections?

[Blue3]

Are the Viet Cong the Black Lives Matter of France?