Campaign Trail Results: Game #869538
Play The Campaign Trail
This Game:
- Year: 1896
- Player Candidate: William McKinley
- Running Mate: Garret Hobart
- 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 McKinley | 249 | 7,831,711 | 55.85 |
| ---- William Jennings Bryan | 198 | 6,059,803 | 43.22 |
| ---- John Palmer | 0 | 130,445 | 0.93 |
Answers:
- Which of the following will be your primary campaign message?I am the candidate who brings the reasonable, tested ideas of sound money, protection, and prosperity. Bryan on the other hand will usher in radicalism and instability.
- 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?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?The big newspapers should remind the voters that I represent a return to prosperity after the Democratic disaster of the previous four years. They should be paying as little attention to Bryan as possible.
- 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 burgeoning textile industry in the Upper South. Their success depends on cheap cotton, protection, and an absence of destabilizing labor issues.
- 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.
- 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?I can't stress this enough. The most important thing we can do right now is increase our tariffs to protect American business.
- 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?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.
- What is your interpretation of the antitrust statutes? Do large American business profit from monopolistic practices?I take a very narrow view of the term "monopoly". There is a need for these statutes but they open up a lot of danger for political witch hunts.
- Would you ever consider government ownership of the railroads?Absolutely not. It frightens me for the future of our country that radical Populist policies like this one can even be a subject for debate.
- It has been alleged that opportunistic young women have married Union Army veterans for the sole purpose of exploiting the pension system. Do you consider this to be a form of corruption? Would you implement some standards that widows must meet before they can inherit these pensions?Have you seen some of these couples? I believe if a marriage was initiated after 1880, then the pension benefits should cease upon the death of the veteran.
- A few western states have allowed women the right to vote. Do you take the calls for a women's suffrage Amendment seriously?I think there are more important issues for us to be focusing our efforts on. Extending the suffrage to women carries with it a whole host of dangers.
- Do you believe that immigrant labor is undermining the American worker? Should there be some restrictions put into place on immigration?We live in an open society, but that should never serve as an excuse for business to undermine the American worker by paying pauper wages to new arrivals.
- Do you believe that America has a duty to civilize the lesser nations of the earth?Where possible, we should certainly allow other places in the world to benefit from a knowledge of our political and economic systems.
- 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?There has already been considerable reform of the stock markets since the dangerous days of the 1860s. There's no need to take this idea any further.
- Jacob Coxey's protests fell on deaf ears in 1894. With so many men out of work, is there any role for a public works program that would keep them occupied until business improves?This is absolutely the wrong solution to our business downturn. We must increase tariffs to stimulate American business.
- Do you believe that the federal government should monitor and improve important waterways in the interests of commerce, such as the Mississippi River?This is not regulation of commerce under the Commerce Clause. This is direct action by the federal government to build and operate a public works project. I'm not sure that this is Constitutional.
- 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.