What about the 1972 election? 60.7 to 37.5 Nixon vs McGovern
I'm not exactly positive what you are asking about with regard to the question in your post.
Former VPOTUS Nixon did, of course, win the 1972 POTUS election by a considerable margin.
My take on why Nixon won in 1972 is this:
1. Many (if not most) Americans had grown tired of how LBJ was handling the conflict in SEA.
LBJ was way over his head in his failed efforts to deal with the armed conflict in SEA for several reasons, including his use of the very questionable legality of the so-called "Gulf of Tonkin Resolution" to justify a continued US military presence in SEA.
As its title states, this so-called "Gulf of Tonkin Resolution" was not an official declaration of war. It was only a joint resolution of Congress that was ram-rodded through Congress using (at best) very questionable arm-twisting methods, and (at worst) some out right illegal tactics. [NOTE: This resolution was one of the reasons why Congress later went on to pass the "War Powers Act."]
2. The person whom LBJ selected to oversee the armed conflict in SEA was probably the most ill-equipped man to have ever run the DOD up to that period of time.
DOD Secretary Robert McNamara had no idea how to deal with the kind of conflict that our nation's military faced in SEA because (to a large extent) this armed conflict was so different than most all of the previous armed conflicts in which our nation's uniformed services had ever dealt.
In 1968, Richard ("Tricky Dick") Nixon told the American people that he had some kind of "secret plan" to end the armed conflict in SEA. However, even though he'd been POTUS for four years, he never did reveal to the American people what exactly his "secret plan" was. [Kinda makes you wonder if, indeed, old "I'm Not A Crook" Nixon ever really had such a plan in the first place!! :smilewinkgrin:]
3. McGovern was even more of a radical liberal than LBJ was, and very few people back in those days wanted a POTUS to be that far of a leftist.
4. The Democrat Party in 1972 was still suffering from the stigma that it suffered from its very divisive 1968 Chicago convention.
5. McGovern was plagued with having to replace his VPOTUS candidate mid-way through the campaign.
6. The revelation that McGovern himself was plagued with bouts of mental illness did not help his candidacy.
To many American voters of that time period, they tended to believe that if the best person that a major political party could offer them was a man in the past had some form of "mental illness," then, "We'd better not give him a chance to do something crazy while in the Oval Office!!" [As if we never before {or since} had some "nut cases" in the White House!! :smilewinkgrin: :tonofbricks:]
Any way that's my story of why George McGovern lost so poorly in 1972, and I'm sticking with it!! :thumbs:
BTW, in 1972 I cast my POTUS vote for John Schmitz who back then ran on the American Party ticket.