Campaign Trail Results: Game #870168
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:
scaldarola2020
View overall results, or a specific state:
| Candidate | Electoral Votes | Popular Votes | Pop. Vote % |
|---|---|---|---|
| ---- William McKinley | 280 | 7,276,583 | 52.39 |
| ---- William Jennings Bryan | 167 | 6,468,430 | 46.57 |
| ---- John Palmer | 0 | 143,452 | 1.03 |
Answers:
- 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.I appreciate the faith of the American people and consult always with the Lord before I make my decisions. I will run a moderate, sensible agenda that appeals to the broad majority.
- 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.
- What do you have to say about William Jennings Bryan's campaign, at a high level?Our campaign is much better positioned to address the concerns of ordinary Americans than Bryan's. He is overly focused on the silver issue.
- 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.
- What arguments will your campaign make to counterbalance the appeal of Democrats in the Plains?We Republicans have learned from our misguided embrace of temperance in the 1880s. Bryan, however, is just the type who will attempt to ban the production of alcohol.
- 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.
- John Rockefeller is concerned about the possible effects of the Sherman Antitrust Act, passed in 1890. It seems that certain rabble-rousers believe this law should be used to break up Standard Oil. Can you reassure him that you will take a narrow interpretation of this law in your Administration?Rockefeller knows my positions well. I feel as if it would be unbecoming to give him personal assurances, however. I work for all of the American people.
- 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?As a Civil War veteran, I am uniquely positioned to preach a message of sectional unity and Americanism. These states must know that we have allowed bygones to be bygones.
- 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.
- You will be making another speech today from the front porch of your home in Canton, Ohio. What will you discuss?Let's discuss world affairs. I support the annexation of Hawaii and I support the independence of Cuba. I support a stronger Navy.
- 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?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.
- What do you have to say about the efforts of the "Sugar Trust" to shield itself from the effects of the Wilson-Gorman Tariff Act?In certain areas we should be open to higher than average tariffs. The sugar industry is a valued part of our American system.
- 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.
- Should there be greater regulation or even price controls on railroad shipping rates?I doubt that it is even Constitutional for the federal government to control railroad rates. This will never happen in my Administration.
- 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.
- 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?
- Do you support federal intervention in the southern sharecropping system to make it more equitable for the tenant farmer?This is properly handled at the state level. It is not the business of the federal government to intervene into southern agricultural practice.
- Will you work towards international agreements to create a monetary system based on "bimetallism", i.e. a combination of gold and silver?The international system we have in place is the gold standard. Not only is this highly advisable from a business standpoint, but it is driven by the power of Great Britain. We are better off working within this system.
- Will you press for your party to include a condemnation of lynching in the party platform?I abhor any instance where extra-judicial punishment is meted out by the passions of an inflamed mob. My party will speak out against this practice in our platform.