Campaign Trail Results: Game #1410934
Play The Campaign Trail
This Game:
- Year: 1896
- Player Candidate: William Jennings Bryan
- Running Mate: Claude Matthews
- Difficulty Level: Easy
- Winner Take All Mode?: No
- Game Played:
View overall results, or a specific state:
| Candidate | Electoral Votes | Popular Votes | Pop. Vote % |
|---|---|---|---|
| ---- William Jennings Bryan | 264 | 7,482,053 | 53.10 |
| ---- William McKinley | 183 | 6,481,135 | 46.00 |
| ---- John Palmer | 0 | 127,308 | 0.90 |
Answers:
- Which of the following most closely matches your overall campaign message?We will focus on free-silver and especially on the issues affecting farmers. We will seek a reduction in private debts and an end to the monopolistic practices of the railroads. We will also fight for the lowest possible tariffs.
- What do you have to say about William McKinley's campaign, at a high level?We may have our disagreements, but William McKinley is an honorable man. Our campaign will focus on the issues, not on the opponent.
- The novelty of a personal visit from the "Great Commoner" could probably swing the West Coast states in your direction. However, it will take two weeks to travel and return via train.
Will you divert your attention from the Midwest long enough to visit California, Oregon, and Washington?Let us bring our message to the citizens of the Pacific Coast. Winning these three states could swing the entire election. - You have very little chance of winning New York this fall, and nearly all of that city's newspapers are anti-Bryan. That doesn't mean you couldn't draw a frenzied crowd in New York City.
Perhaps the media attention would be beneficial in building excitement for your campaign on a national scale?I will give one big speech in New York City to open my campaign. Even if winning that state is hopeless, we need the national press. - New York politics are dominated by a highly corrupt, patronage-based outfit known as Tammany Hall. Their boss, Richard Croker, has so far been indifferent to your campaign. Are you willing to make concessions to arouse his enthusiasm?Croker is probably worried about my views on the temperance issue. I will assure him that a Bryan Administration will not push for Prohibition.
- You have alluded to the need for less prejudice between the races. Senator "Pitchfork" Ben Tillman, of South Carolina, privately seeks your clarification.
Can you reassure him that the federal government will respect the rights of the states under your Administration?We will respect the rights of the states. I call for greater understanding, but certainly not for an overthrow of the natural order. - What do you think of leaving the Midwest for a week and making a circuit of the crucial upper South states? (i.e. Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and Kentucky)It's a shame that we need to even campaign in these beacons of the South. But if we have to, let us do it with effluence.
- You are making a big speech in Chicago today. What points will you touch on?I will speak to the general issues of the future -- free silver, higher wages, worker's rights, an end to child labor, and women's suffrage.
- Even though Ohio is William McKinley's home state, it is also more competitive than any state further to the east. There is also a good mix of farmers and industrial workers. Will you go to Ohio on this campaign?I will not avoid Ohio. It is a big state and we have a real chance to win it this November.
- Without compromising on the silver issue, what can you say about McKinley to Bourbon Democrats to try and bring them back into the fold?With the new perspectives I bring, I will be in a unique position to ensure clean, honest government at the federal level. McKinley, on the other hand, is a Republican hack who will continue the status quo.
- In an unusual move, the Populist Party has supported you for President while nominating their own running-mate. The man is Thomas Watson of Georgia -- a known radical. What do you have to say about this bizarre situation? If they can get a Bryan-Watson ticket on the ballot, good for them. We will sort this issue out after we win the election in November.
- Can you state your definitive position on the American monetary system?I support the free, unlimited coinage of silver at the current market price of 30-to-1 against gold. This ratio should be frequently adjusted to match actual prices in order to avoid another run on the Treasury's gold supply.
- What is your definitive position on the tariff issue?In limited areas where we have new industries forming, tariffs can be higher. They should be low on most products.
- The United States is in the midst of a financial calamity, with masses of unemployed men on the streets. What will you do to revive business in this country?The Democratic idea has been that if you legislate to make the masses prosperous, their prosperity will find its way up through every class which rests upon them. We need to help our farmers and our workers by allowing the coinage of silver.
- Grover Cleveland sent federal troops to Illinois to end the Pullman Strike without the request of Governor Altgeld. Was this an overreach on his part?Governor Altgeld was working to mediate the dispute between the Pullman Company and the strikers when Cleveland interfered. There should have absolutely been more time given for these sides to reach an accommodation.
- What is your opinion on measures that would aim to restrict the sale or production of alcohol?Perhaps if our goal is to prevent drinking on Sunday, or public drunkenness, I am all for those measures. But a blanket temperance law is a different story.
- Does the success of the tin-plate industry within the U.S. prove that protectionism stimulates industry?There is nothing I'm more proud of from my time in Congress than creating the conditions that allowed for a booming tin industry to flourish within our borders.
- Should Confederate veterans be included in the federal Civil War pension system?There's just one problem with this idea -- Confederate veterans will never accept money from the Federal government. Since they deem this idea to be an exercise in humiliation, I am left with no choice but to oppose it myself.
- Do you believe that workers should have the right to bargain collectively?This right should be as fundamental as any other right in a free economy. There will only be justice in this country when there is justice for the working class.
- Should there be some regulation of working hours for children, particularly those under the age of 12 or 13?It agonizes me that we do not have this protection in place. Have we not seen children who are seven years old losing their hands in the cotton looms?
- What are your views on the Darwinian theory of Evolution?I have no comment to make on Darwinism. This is completely irrelevant to my expected duties as President of the United States.
- Would you support the abolition of tribal governments in Oklahoma, as a precondition for that territory to obtain statehood?I support the alternative solution to this issue. There should be two states in the Indian Territory -- one for the whites (Oklahoma) and one for the Indians (Sequoyah), whereby the latter one preserves Indian sovereignty.
- Do you believe that the federal government should monitor and improve important waterways in the interests of commerce, such as the Mississippi River?Internal areas of the country have the same rights to use our waterways as the coastal regions. Making the Mississippi more navigable and more flood-resistant could prove to be an economic windfall.
- Will you press for your party to include a condemnation of lynching in the party platform?This isn't an issue worth addressing. It will please no one and offend everyone, at least within our party's rank-and-file.
- There is one week left until election day. Every state is important, but where will you give an extra push with your personal campaigning to swing the final results?Let's make one last general tour of the Midwest. Starting in Ohio, we will travel west and end in North Dakota, before moving down to Nebraska on Election Day.