The Wallace Factor: Constancy and Cooptation

In: American politics quarterly, Volume 6, Issue 4, p. 469-484

Abstract

Before the 1976 presidential primaries had begun, the figure of George Wallace loomed large in the American political arena. Pollsters and journalists speculated widely on how many Democratic convention delegates Wallace would win, what influence he would have on the Democratic convention, and whether he would lead a third-party movement if denied the Democratic nomination. Events from the New Hampshire through the California primaries proved much of this speculation to be idle, for Wallace never did mount a serious challenge within the Democratic party. Using data from the 1968 through 1976 SRC/CPS Election Studies, this work traces the sources of Wallace support over time and advances several hypotheses as to why the "Wallace Factor" was relatively absent in the 1976 campaign.