Question

Why is the populist party generally regarded as a failure by historians

Answer 1

The Populist Party is generally regarded as a failure due to aligning with the Democrats and losing in the 1896 election, their inability to secure urban votes, and challenges in resolving tensions between their base and the diverse urban workforce.

Step-by-step explanation:

The Populist Party is generally regarded as a failure by historians for several reasons:

1. The party aligned itself with the Democrats in the 1896 presidential election and their candidate, William Jennings Bryan, lost to William McKinley. This defeat weakened the Populist Party and made it difficult for them to maintain party autonomy.
2. The Populists failed to secure enough urban votes as the country's population became more urbanized. They couldn't connect with the urban workforce and lost their voice in national politics.
3. The Populists faced challenges in resolving tensions between their predominantly old-stock Anglo Protestant base and the ethnically, racially, and religiously diverse urban workforce. Urban voters tended to support local political machines that provided immediate benefits to their communities, which didn't align with some aspects of the Populist platform.

Overall, these factors contributed to the downfall of the Populist Party and its failure to establish a lasting presence in American politics.

Answer 2

The Populist Party was a third party created due to the discontent of farmers against the major political parties (Republican and Democratic parties) because of the Gold Standard issue, and because they felt ignored. This Party is often regarded as a failure because it focused on one issue (to increase the money supply) and tried to gain the support of farmers and workers, but the workers' wants and needs were different than those of the farmers, so the Populist Party didn't had all the support it needed to succeed and ended up being absorbed by the Progressive Party. Although the Populist Party didn't succeed, it helped creating awareness of the farmers conditions, so that the Republican and Democratic parties could also focus on that side of the population.