Alternate History Democratic Blowout In 1976

Zyobot

Just a time-traveling robot stranded on Earth.
With Watergate costing President Nixon his once-massive approval ratings and bruising the GOP in the midterms, 1976 looked like it'd be a comeback election for the Democrats. Giving the nod to dark-horse candidate Jimmy Carter, they won back the White House in November, racking up 297 electoral votes and 50.1% of the popular vote. Certainly a victory, but nothing like the particularly lopsided polling seen in the months before Election Night, with Carter once peaking at 62%.

So, is there any conceivable way to make 1976 a blowout year for the Democrats, perhaps even similar in extent to the GOP landslide achieved four years before? Carter's big spike in support being a one-off and his OTL victory being quite modest, it doesn't necessarily have to be him who becomes the Democratic nominee ITTL. Nonetheless, I'd think that Nixon doubling down and refusing to resign when confronted with all sorts of evidence that he was complicit in Watergate would doom the GOP's chances, pretty much regardless of who the Democrats nominated.

Here's a map simulator, for those interested in more visual projections as to how this scenario might go.

Thank you in advance,
Zyobot
 

Aaron Fox

Well-known member
The thing was that Watergate seriously hurt the GOP in terms of public perception. If Watergate was found to be, essentially, a bunch of idiots going against orders, you might see a possible improvement, but not by much.
 

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