welcome back!! this time we're gonna finish up the 1968 election. so, off the bat, the big glaring issue was that, with two liberals running against eachother, super-racist george wallace was commanding a large portion of the electorate. his polling remained at around 20% in polling throughout the election. of course, this was worrying for democrats cus, yknow, many wallace supporters were southern democrats and also a fifth of the country supporting someone who opposed the civil rights act is, like, insane? not to mention the horrifying possibility of wallace actually deadlocking the election! but it ended up being even more disastrous for the republicans, since the gop base wasnt exactly on board with the party leadership trying to court hippies and homosexuals. it got so bad that at one point parkerson had to clarify that he wasnt as pro-welfare as one of his surrogates claimed he was. all this led to many conservative republicans staying home or even voting for wallace. that was great news for sorensen since it helped counteract his own misgivings with his own party, but that didn't mean anything if he didnt win. as it so happened, it would all come down to the midwest. both candidates would campaign through the region like crazy, but in the end sorensens folksy charm would win out against parkersons preaching, and america would elect that old man from north dakota as their next president. college campuses and union households alike would erupt in cheers as they called the election. for them, the future looked bright. but the 60% of the country that didn't vote for him wasnt so sure.
Popular Vote -
Electoral College Map:
so other than the presidency, there was the congressional elections, which were a minor but unsubstantive victory for democrats. they would gain three seats in the house, and lose one seat in the senate, preserving their majorities in both. despite what the numbers may seem, their majority wasn't an effective one, as it relied on the southern democratic caucus, and they were sure to oppose the new president in any progressive reforms he wanted to pass. so while his liberal base had high hopes, the new president would have his work cut out for him if he wanted to leave a legacy.
House of Representatives -
Senate -
