1972 United States presidential election

===Campaign===
[[File:Richard Nixon greeted by children during campaign 1972.png|left|thumb|Richard Nixon during an August 1972 campaign stop]]
[[File:George McGovern UH.jpeg|left|thumb|upright|George McGovern speaking at an October 1972 campaign rally]]

McGovern ran on a platform of immediately ending the Vietnam War and instituting a radical [[guaranteed minimum income]]s for the nation's poor. His campaign was harmed by his views during the primaries (which alienated many powerful Democrats), the perception that his foreign policy was too extreme, and the Eagleton debacle. With McGovern's campaign weakened by these factors, with the Republicans portraying McGovern as a radical left-wing extremist, Nixon [[Historical polling for U.S. Presidential elections#1972 United States presidential election|led in the polls]] by large margins throughout the entire campaign. With an enormous fundraising advantage and a comfortable lead in the polls, Nixon concentrated on large rallies and focused speeches to closed, select audiences, leaving much of the retail campaigning to surrogates like Vice President Agnew. Nixon did not, by design, try to extend his coattails to Republican congressional or gubernatorial candidates, preferring to pad his own margin of victory.