11/08/2022, The Midterms, aka build on 2020 aka The Election Thread

[allegro]

In 1964, incumbent LBJ was up against ultra conservative Barry Goldwater of Arizona.

See this: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1964...ntial_election

Johnson’s campaign ran this famous “Daisy” ad:

Johnson championed his passage of the Civil Rights Act, and advocated a series of anti-poverty programs collectively known as the Great Society. Goldwater espoused a low-tax, small-government philosophy. Although he supported previous attempts to pass civil rights legislation in 1957 and 1960, as well as the 24th Amendment outlawing the poll tax, Goldwater reluctantly opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as he felt that Title II violated individual liberty and states' rights. Democrats successfully portrayed Goldwater as a dangerous extremist, most famously in the "Daisy" television advertisement. The Republicans were divided between its moderate and conservative factions, with Rockefeller and other moderate party leaders refusing to campaign for Goldwater. Johnson led by wide margins in all opinion polls conducted during the campaign, although his lead continued to dwindle throughout.

Johnson carried 44 states and the District of Columbia, which voted for the first time in this election. Goldwater won his home state and swept the states of the Deep South, most of which had not voted for a Republican presidential candidate since the end of Reconstruction in 1877. This was the last time that the Democratic Party won the white vote, although they came close in 1992. This was the first-ever and only election before 1992 in which the Democrats carried Vermont, and the first election since 1912 in which the Democrats carried Maine. Conversely, it was also the first-ever election in which the Republicans carried Georgia.

This was the last election in which the Democratic nominee carried Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska,[a] Kansas, or Oklahoma, and the only election ever in which the Democrat carried Alaska. As such, this was the most recent presidential election in which the entire Midwestern region voted Democratic. Iowa and Oregon would not vote Democratic again until 1988, California, Colorado, Illinois, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, and Vermont would not vote Democratic again until 1992, while Indiana and Virginia would not vote Democratic again until 2008. As of 2022, this marks the last time that a Democratic presidential candidate has won more than 400 electoral votes.

The Great Society created:

* Social Security Amendments of 1965, which introduced: Medicare and Medicaid
* The Food Stamp Act of 1964
* The Federal Student Loan Program (Higher Education Act of 1965)
* Head Start
* Job Corp
* Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act of 1965
* Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966
* Clean Air Act of 1963
* Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965 (later rolled into the Clean Air Act)
* National Historic Preservation Act of 1966
* National Trails System of 1968
* The Child Safety Act of 1966
* National Endowments for the arts and the humanities
* Public Broadcasting Act of 1967
* John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts