Campaign Trail Results: Game #834245
Play The Campaign Trail
This Game:
- Year: 1896
- Player Candidate: William McKinley
- Running Mate: Lyman Gage
- Difficulty Level: Impossible
- Winner Take All Mode?: Yes
- Game Played:
View overall results, or a specific state:
| Candidate | Electoral Votes | Popular Votes | Pop. Vote % |
|---|---|---|---|
| ---- William Jennings Bryan | 240 | 7,324,981 | 51.87 |
| ---- William McKinley | 207 | 6,633,307 | 46.98 |
| ---- John Palmer | 0 | 162,422 | 1.15 |
Answers:
- Which of the following will be your primary campaign message?My administration will bring back the era of the budget surplus, and will work towards the professionalization of the federal government. We will continue to phase out the 'spoils system' in accordance with the Pendleton Act.
- 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.Democrats who believe in the gold standard are welcome in our party. We will increase tariffs, to be sure, but in a moderate way that addresses their concerns.
- 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?Bryan's naked ambition knows no bounds. It is unbecoming of a candidate to make campaign appearances on his own behalf.
- You have received checks for $250,000 from J.P. Morgan and from Standard Oil, not to mention innumerable contributions from other concerned businessmen. How will you exploit this immense advantage in funding that you have?I will return these checks. It is not appropriate for politics to be infused with this kind of money.
- 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'm not comfortable coordinating my message with the press. I trust that they will find the right way to present a contrast between me and my opponent.
- 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?Maybe in isolated cases a factory owner or a manger has proposed such an idea. This is not a coordinated campaign strategy, however.
- 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.I am all in favor of the gold standard. If it would help defuse the currency issue a little, then I might be in favor of a limited silver purchase program.
- 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?Bryan is the type of do-gooder politician who would attempt to impose his own morality on this independent region.
- 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.
- You've got a fairly clean reputation in politics. Can you leverage this to mend the rift between the party establishment and the so-called Mugwumps (who tended to support Grover Cleveland)?We will change the bad policies of Grover Cleveland while continuing his legacy of clean governance and integrity.
- 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?We are running a 45-state strategy. I want our victory and repudiation of the silver Democrats to be as large as possible.
- Word has it that at one of Bryan's nighttime revivals, the torches were arranged to cast a halo around his head. Do you think this kind of religious imagery is appropriate for a presidential candidate?How unbecoming of a presidential candidate to be campaigning in the middle of the night by torchlight!
- 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?Our speakers should converge on Illinois from all directions. We need to blanket this state with advertising and with political parades.
- Can you state your definitive position on the American monetary system?Limited silver coinage is a good compromise. I support a program like that of Bland-Allison where the government purchases around $2 million of silver each month.
- What is your definitive position on the tariff issue?Where we have mature, stable industries, tariffs can be lower. They should be high 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?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?Bargaining for wages is the business of a man and his employer. Collective bargaining has no place in American society, and I commend Grover Cleveland for having the courage to act decisively.
- What is your opinion on measures that would aim to restrict the sale or production of alcohol?It is my dream to see a Prohibition Amendment passed before I die.
- 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?The WCTU is one of the most spiritually uplifting, morally righteous groups in our society. I pray that the Lord will see fit to guide them to success in their mission.
- Was it an appropriate intervention of the federal government to attach U.S. mail cars to Pullman trains during the strike in 1894? (Thereby making it a federal crime to interfere with the passage of these cars)The Democrats have always been the party of states' rights. I was a little surprised to see Cleveland intervene in this case.
- 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.
- Would you support the abolition of tribal governments in Oklahoma, as a precondition for that territory to obtain statehood?We have only spent the last ninety years chasing these tribes all over the southern half of our country. I will allow Oklahoma to become a state, but only those parts that are not currently allocated to the Indian tribes.
- Are you prepared to reaffirm our commitment to the Monroe Doctrine, should any new territories in Latin America gain independence from Spain?We will vigorously enforce the Monroe Doctrine, the same way that we have since 1823. This includes support for the struggles of the people in Cuba, should they gain independence. We also appreciate Grover Cleveland's vigorous action in Venezuela last year.
- Is it generally appropriate for federal courts to issue injunctions against striking unions?The Pullman Strike of 1894 disrupted half of the nation's rail traffic and threatened to throw our society into complete turmoil. A small group of radicals should never have the power to disrupt the lives of millions.
