Did not Goldwater lose every state except 1 or 2? Why did he get beat so bad by a centrist democrat?
Personally, my heart yearns for conservatives but my brain pushes me towards a candidate who can win the center. That is where most voters are. 90% of voters never read party platforms or detailed policy statements of candidates. It is who do I like and whom can I trust.
Well, Goldwater carried Arizona, South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.
He also set tha stage for the rise of the Conservative movement nationally and the eventual takeover of the South by the GOP.
Too bad all of the work done between then and now has been squandered by the limp wristed Girly men who are now once again ascendant in the Republican Party,
It wasn't a fair fight. LBJ was riding the recently-deceased JFK's coattails pretty hard. The shocked and grief-stricken country wanted Kennedy back, and failing that, JFK was closer than Barry.
Also, the Dems ran a REALLY dirty smear campaign to make Barry appear extremist. Remember the 1964 "Daisy Girl" ad?
Kennedy was a centrist Democrat, LBJ was a far left Democrat especially for a Southern Democrat.
Goldwater himself said he could have beaten the living JFK, but not his martyred ghost.