Editing People's Party (United States) (section)

== 1892 election ==

[[File:ElectoralCollege1892.svg|thumb|upright=1.5|1892 electoral vote results]]

The initial front-runner for the Populist Party's presidential nomination was [[Leonidas L. Polk]], who had served as the chairman of the convention in St. Louis, but he died of an illness weeks before the Populist convention.<ref>Goodwyn (1978), pp. 169–172</ref> The party instead turned to former [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] General and 1880 Greenback presidential nominee [[James B. Weaver]] of Iowa, nominating him on a ticket with former [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] army officer [[James G. Field]] of Virginia.<ref>Brands (2010), p. 440</ref> The convention agreed to a [[party platform]] known as the [[Omaha Platform]], which proposed the implementation of the Sub-Treasury and other longtime Farmer's Alliance goals.<ref>Goodwyn (1978), pp. 172–173</ref> The platform also called for a graduated [[income tax]], [[Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|direct election of Senators]], a shorter workweek, restrictions on [[immigration to the United States]], and public ownership of railroads and communication lines.<ref>Brands (2010), pp. 439–440</ref>

The Populists appealed most strongly to voters in the South, the Great Plains, and the Rocky Mountains.<ref>Holmes (1990), p. 37</ref> In the Rocky Mountains, Populist voters were motivated by support for [[free silver]] (bimetallism), opposition to the power of railroads, and clashes with large landowners over water rights.<ref>Holmes (1990), pp. 30–31</ref> In the South and the Great Plains, Populists had a broad appeal among farmers, but relatively little support in cities and towns. Businessmen and, to a lesser extent, skilled craftsmen were appalled by the perceived radicalism of Populist proposals. Even in rural areas, many voters resisted casting aside their long-standing partisan allegiances.<ref>Holmes (1990), pp. 35–38, 46</ref> Turner concludes that Populism appealed most strongly to economically distressed farmers who were isolated from urban centers.<ref>Turner (1980), pp. 358, 364–367</ref> [[Linda Slaughter]], a prominent women's rights advocate from the [[Dakota Territory]], also participated in the convention, making her the first American woman to vote for a presidential candidate at a national convention.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Wishart|first=David J.|title=Encyclopedia of the Great Plains|date=2004|publisher=University of Nebraska Press|isbn=978-0-8032-4787-1|location=Lincoln|pages=337}}</ref>

One of the Populist Party's central goals was to create a coalition between farmers in the South and West and urban laborers in the Midwest and Northeast. In the latter regions, the Populists received the support of [[trade union|union]] officials like Knights of Labor leader [[Terrence Powderly]] and railroad organizer [[Eugene V. Debs]], as well as author [[Edward Bellamy]]'s [[Nationalist Clubs]]. But the Populists lacked compelling campaign planks that appealed specifically to urban laborers, and were largely unable to mobilize support in urban areas. Corporate leaders had largely been successful in preventing labor from organizing politically and economically, and union membership did not rival that of the Farmer's Alliance. Some unions, including the fledgling [[American Federation of Labor]], refused to endorse any political party.<ref>Goodwyn (1978), pp. 174–179</ref> Populists were also largely unable to win the support of farmers in the Northeast and the more developed parts of the Midwest.<ref>Holmes (1990), pp. 38–39</ref>

In the [[U.S. presidential election, 1892|1892 presidential election]], Democratic nominee [[Grover Cleveland]], a strong supporter of the gold standard, defeated incumbent Republican President [[Benjamin Harrison]].<ref>Goodwyn (1978), pp. 200–201</ref> Weaver won over one million votes, carried [[Colorado]], [[Kansas]], [[Idaho]], and [[Nevada]], and received electoral votes from [[Oregon]] and [[North Dakota]]. He was the first third-party candidate since the Civil War to win electoral votes,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/04/AR2008070402498.html|title=Egad! He Moved His Feet When He Ran|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=2008-07-05|access-date=2018-09-10|language=en-US|issn=0190-8286}}</ref> while Field was the first Southern candidate to win electoral votes since the [[1872 United States presidential election|1872 election]].{{citation needed|date=November 2018}} The Populists performed strongly in the West, but many party leaders were disappointed by the results in parts of the South and the entire Great Lakes Region.<ref>Goodwyn (1978), pp. 186–187, 199–200</ref> Weaver failed to win more than 5% of the vote in any state east of the Mississippi River and north of the [[Mason–Dixon line]].<ref name="Reichley 2000, p. 138">Reichley (2000), p. 138</ref>