Campaign Trail Results: Game #707970
Play The Campaign Trail
This Game:
- Year: 1896
- Player Candidate: William McKinley
- Running Mate: Garret Hobart
- Difficulty Level: Normal
- Winner Take All Mode?: Yes
- Game Played:
- moisarazvan62
View overall results, or a specific state:
| Candidate | Electoral Votes | Popular Votes | Pop. Vote % |
|---|---|---|---|
| ---- William McKinley | 260 | 7,105,042 | 51.20 |
| ---- William Jennings Bryan | 187 | 6,632,506 | 47.79 |
| ---- John Palmer | 0 | 140,241 | 1.01 |
Answers:
- What is your opinion on measures that would aim to restrict the sale or production of alcohol?I am a proud "wet" in the alcohol debate. What a man drinks is no one's business but his own.
- Which of the following will be your primary campaign message?My campaign will reach out to workers across the American spectrum, while Bryan's policies will leave them defenseless against foreign competition and will debase their wages.
- What points do you wish to touch upon as you accept the Republican nomination? A written transcript will be transmitted to voters across the country.Labor agitators and agrarian radicals are threatening to overthrow our system of government. They have put forward a preposterous array of Constitutional Amendments and confiscatory welfare programs.
- Bryan's nomination has electrified the western voter, and he is now planning to campaign on the rails, six days a week. Will you break precedent as well and make a speaking tour of the nation?There's no way I can compete with Bryan's oratorical talents. Instead, I will receive groups of visitors at my home in Canton, Ohio. We have the financing to pay for these visits, and anyone who shows up will receive a free sandwich while I deliver a speech.
- You have the support of the important newspapers, and they are willing to accept your guidance on the proper campaign message. What do you want them to print?I can't attack Bryan like the papers can without losing some of my luster. Let them publish the defamatory cartoons and opinion pieces.
- The "lily-white" faction of the Republican Party claims that they can make your ticket competitive in some Southern states. Are you willing to make a statement of support?I will not do business with the lilly-whites. They are antithetical to what I fought for in the Civil War.
- Your surrogates have taken to reminding some workers that factories and railroads will certainly be forced to close if a radical like Bryan takes office. Do you encourage such tactics?Bryan and his minions are no doubt threatening the American farmer with foreclosure and penury if I'm elected. Politics is politics and I don't see a problem.
- As a Congressman, you voted for the Sherman Silver Purchase Act in 1890. Can you reassure your supporters that you are now 100% in favor of the gold standard.Since 1890 the folly of a silver purchase program has become clear. Our Treasury was nearly bankrupted in 1894 and I won't allow this to happen a second time.
- What arguments will your campaign make to counterbalance the appeal of Democrats in the Plains?The free coinage of silver will lead to chaos in agriculture the same as in other areas. Crop prices will increase, but so too will land and seed prices.
- The West Coast is a very competitive region. Can you make the case for Republican policies there, particularly in those places such as San Francisco which rely on foreign trade?Much of California's livelihood comes from gold mining. I reject any call to undermine gold through the free coinage of silver.
- Some of the border states (Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky) are very close this year. Do you have a strategy to make these states jump to the Republican side?There is a certain element of conservatism in the southern states. I don't think that their temperament aligns with that of Bryan. I will simply repeat the message that he is a radical.
- Will you send campaigners to Nebraska, in an attempt to deliver an embarrassing defeat to Bryan, or should those resources be focused on South Dakota, Wyoming, and Iowa?That's not a good idea. Let's be realistic and devote our efforts to the states that matter.
- The railroads have agreed to transport any interested voters to Canton, Ohio to meet you at a cut-rate cost. Of course, they only ask that you maintain the traditional Republican policy of amity and good-will towards their business practices. Are you willing to make this commitment?The Republican Party has always been the party of the railroads. We will defend them from any misguided regulation that may arise.
- There is one week left until election day. Every state is important, but where will you give an extra push with what is left of your financial resources to educate the American voters?Let's take the fight to Bryan. I want us to be campaigning the hardest in Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, and Iowa. Our extra cash will ensure a landslide on election night.
- Can you state your definitive position on the American monetary system?I support a strict adherence to the gold standard, which is fundamental to American prosperity.
- What is your definitive position on the tariff issue?We need high tariffs on a variety of products and commodities to stimulate American manufacturing.
- 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?We need to reaffirm our commitment to non-intervention in business affairs. Companies need stability before they will have the confidence to expand.
- 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?It's not the job of government to regulate labor disputes, but the fact of the matter is that these strikers were allowing no rail traffic to pass through Chicago whatsoever. Something needed to be done.
- Do you believe that workers should have the right to bargain collectively?Collective bargaining coerces workers into joining unions. Every man has a right to work under the conditions agreed to between him and his employer.
- What are your thoughts on the Women's Christian Temperance Union? Is this group a positive force in American life?This group is Exhibit A in the dangers of allowing women to become politically active. They are engaged in a naive quest to purify American life from an imagined evil.
- Some people have suggested implementing a minimum wage, under which people may not be employed. Do you think this would help increase wages or would it simply put more men out of work?This policy is economically unviable. It is also yet another "solution" to our problems which I deem to be unconstitutional.
- Do you agree with the Supreme Court's ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson that separate accommodations for the races can be legally required by certain states?I will repeat my firmly held conviction that we should not politicize the decisions of the Supreme Court.
- Would you support federal "Blue Laws" to protect the sanctity of Sunday?This debate has no place in our system of federalism. The individual states have every right to decide how they wish to handle the issue of commerce and drinking on Sunday.
- Do you think that there should be federal oversight of the New York and Chicago trading markets?The New York Stock Exchange is a private company providing liquidity to other companies. The last thing our fragile economy needs is some hare-brained intervention in this process.
- Do you think that local jurisdictions should be allowed to use hanging or other forms of capital punishment for crimes?I have sought the guidance of our Savior on this issue, and I cannot support the execution of our lost souls in good conscience.