1968: LBJ vs Nixon vs Wallace

[OSR stands with Israel]

How do you think such a race would go. I think this would be the result would be

[President Johnson]

I think Lyndon would have won. He was a master politician and would have leaked that Nixon sabotaged the Vietnam peace talks, which pretty much would have sealed the deal. Given how close Humphrey came, it's not too far fetched an incumbent with LBJ's political skills would have pulled it off.



Not exactly sure what the popular vote would have been like.

[DK_Mo82]

Lyndon only had support of 1/3 of Dems at the time he dropped out. he dropped out because he couldn't have won and may have been humiliated, Nixon vote definitely had a ceiling in 68s but Wallace may have totally canibalized LBJ even in the North, worse than Humphrey

[Another Middling Leftist]

Nixon probably wins. Vietnam was a part for costing the Dems 1968.

[wnwnwn]

He would have trying to run a leftist version of the silent majority Nixon campaing, trying to unite unions with him and would have tried to correlated hippies with 'republican individualism'. Most social liberals and pacifist would have ended up supporting him after he leakes Nixon sabotage.

[dw93]

I agree that Johnson leaks Nixon's sabotaging of the Peace Talks and would hold onto the Presidency as a result, but I doubt he'd win by over 300 electoral votes, on a bad night for LBJ the electoral college may even deadlock.

[Fuzzy Bear]

1.  Nixon would seem to be the most anti-war candidate in this race.

2.  Wallace would have done better in the South, as Nixon would have appeared more moderate.

3.  LBJ would have won Arkansas and some of the border states, but would have lost NY and PA.

[Liminal Trans Girl]

LBJ summons Nixon and Wallace to Austin to show how a real President does it.

They both drop out and endorse him

[President of the great nation of 🏳️‍⚧️]

[Fuzzy Bear]

LBJ summons Nixon and Wallace to Austin to show how a real President does it.

They both drop out and endorse him

I hope you are kidding here.

I was alive and aware of some things in 1968, and I can tell you that LBJ was hated by the far left more than any Democratic incumbent in my lifetime.  Ratchet the opposition to Biden over Palestine up x 100 and you've got "Hey, Hey, LBJ!  How many kids did you kill today?" in the streets on a daily basis, with the news media, on a daily basis, discussing a "Credibility Gap" between rosy projections on Vietnam and the actual progress, or lack of it.

If LBJ had continued to run, Eugene McCarthy would have run a write-in candidacy that would not have carried any states, but which would have depleted LBJ's vote totals even more.  And he would have had no support from RFK, assuming that he had lived, or Ted Kennedy, if RFK was assassinated (as did happen). 

And if LBJ had actually been the candidate, just imagine what the 1968 Democratic National Convention would have been like, both in the Hall and in the streets.

[johnpressman]

I was 15 in 1968. Attended the October 31, 1968 Nixon For President rally at Madison Square Garden where LBJ's bombing halt was announced to the crowd.  America was looking for stability  after the chaotic events of that fateful year while LBJ reminded voters of all that we had gone through.  Both Nixon and Humphrey gave America some hope of a more peaceful future. Nixon wins, but with only slightly better vote and electoral college totals.

[TransfemmeGoreVidal]

Weirdly would be a similar dynamic in some ways to Biden vs Trump vs RFK Jr. Incumbent Democrat with a decent economic record but a foreign policy that's turned a segment of the left staunchly against him vs retread Republican nominee trying to exploit fears of crime and a right-wing populist.