The U.S. presidential election of 1964 was one of the most lopsided presidential elections in United States history. President Lyndon B. Johnson had come to office less than a year earlier upon the assassination of his predecessor, John F. Kennedy, and Johnson had successfully associated himself with Kennedy's popularity. Johnson also successfully painted his opponent, Republican Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona, as an extremist who might plunge the country into nuclear war. With both of these factors working for him, Johnson easily won the Presidency, carrying 44 of the 50 states. As of 2006, Johnson's 22.6% margin of victory in the popular vote is the second-largest such margin in Presidential election history (after Nixon's 23.2% margin in the 1972 election).

Although Goldwater had been successful in rallying conservatives,
his charisma seemed to be inadequate for the general election. Shortly before the Republican convention, he had alienated most Republicans by his vote against the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which Johnson championed and signed into law. Goldwater argued that it was a matter for the individual states rather than federal legislation. Earlier comments followed Goldwater throughout his campaign. Once he called the Eisenhower administration “a dime store New Deal”, and the former president never fully forgave him. In December 1961, he told a news conference that “sometimes I think this country would be better off if we could just saw off the Eastern Seaboard and let it float out to sea.” That comment came back to haunt him, in the form of a Johnson television commercial, as did remarks about making Social Security voluntary and selling the Tennessee Valley Authority.


Eisenhower’s strong backing could have been an asset to the Goldwater campaign, but instead its absence was clearly noticed. When questioned about the Presidential capabilities of the former President's younger brother, university administrator Milton S. Eisenhower, in July 1964, Goldwater replied, “One Eisenhower in a generation is enough.” The former president did, however, agree to appear in one Goldwater television advertisement*.

Johnson positioned himself as a moderate, and succeeded in portraying Goldwater as an extremist. Goldwater had a habit of making blunt statements about war, nuclear weapons, and economics that could be turned against him. Most famously, the Johnson campaign broadcast a television commercial dubbed the “Daisy Girl” ad, which featured a little girl picking petals from a daisy in a field, counting the petals, which then segues into a launch countdown and a nuclear explosion. The ads were in response to Goldwater's advocacy of “tactical” nuclear weapons use in Vietnam. Another Johnson ad, “Confessions of a Republican”, tied Goldwater to the Ku Klux Klan. Voters increasingly viewed Goldwater as a right wing fringe candidate—his slogan “In your heart, you know he's right” was successfully parodied by the Johnson campaign into “In your guts, you know he's nuts,” or “In your heart, you know he might.”

The Johnson campaign's greatest concern may have been voter complacency leading to low turnout in key states. To counter this, all of Johnson's broadcast ads concluded with the line: “Vote for President Johnson on November 3. The stakes are too high for you to stay home.” The Democratic campaign used two other slogans, “All the way with LBJ.” and “LBJ for the USA.”

The election campaign was disrupted on October 20, 1964, with the passing of former president Herbert Hoover, because it was considered disrespectful to be campaigning during a time of mourning. Five days later, the final stretch of the campaign resumed after Hoover was laid to rest at his presidential library in Iowa.