The United States presidential election of 1964 was the sixth-most lopsided presidential election in the history of the United States. President Lyndon B. Johnson had come to office less than a year earlier following the assassination of his predecessor, John F. Kennedy. Johnson also successfully painted his opponent, Republican Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona, as a right-wing legislator who wanted to abolish the social welfare programs created in the 1930s. LBJ advocated more programs. He included three: Medicare, Medicaid, and the War on Poverty. With these factors working for him, Johnson easily won the Presidency, carrying 44 of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Johnson won 61.1% of the national popular vote, which remains the highest popular-vote percentage won by a U.S. presidential candidate since 1820. The election is also remembered due to Goldwater's status as a pioneer in the modern conservative movement.
