Campaign Trail Results: Game #933750
Play The Campaign Trail
This Game:
- Year: 1896
- Player Candidate: William McKinley
- Running Mate: Lyman Gage
- Difficulty Level: Hard
- Winner Take All Mode?: Yes
- Game Played:
View overall results, or a specific state:
| Candidate | Electoral Votes | Popular Votes | Pop. Vote % |
|---|---|---|---|
| ---- William McKinley | 280 | 7,297,016 | 52.37 |
| ---- William Jennings Bryan | 167 | 6,496,827 | 46.63 |
| ---- John Palmer | 0 | 139,837 | 1.00 |
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.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?I can't attack Bryan like the papers can without losing some of my luster. Let them publish the defamatory cartoons and opinion pieces.
- What do you have to say about your own Christian faith? And how does it inform your political views?My faith calls for the true equality of man. Our Constitution enshrines the ideals that each man has God-given rights which cannot be ignored by any earthly power.
- 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?One of my highest priorities in office will be a canal through Nicaragua, which will greatly enhance our national trade. Democrats lack the ambition for such far-reaching projects.
- 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?John D. Rockefeller has nothing to fear from a McKinley Administration. I reject the calls of certain mountebanks for the break-up or socialization of Standard Oil.
- 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.
- 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?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?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?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?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.
- 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?My goal as President is to ensure that 100% of sugar consumed in the United States is made in the United States.
- 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.
- 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 entire city of Chicago and half of the Midwest was blocked to rail traffic. It was impossible for this fracas not to interrupt U.S. mail.
- Do you believe that immigrant labor is undermining the American worker? Should there be some restrictions put into place on immigration?We accept any European who is able to read and write. America will always serve as a place where the oppressed masses can find a new hope.
- 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.
- 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.
- Do you believe that the federal government has any right to issue interest-bearing bonds, such as those sold to J.P. Morgan in 1895?The federal government has every right to issue interest bearing bonds. Of course, under a solvent Administration there would be no cause for doing so. This whole episode reflects more poorly on the performance of President Cleveland than it does on any great legal issue.
- Do you support greater regulation on the sale and labeling of opium, cocaine, and morphine when used in patent medicines?Many patent medicine purveyors operate in a single locale, and do not cross state lines. Where appropriate, I would support regulation, but only where the Constitution allows it.
- 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.