Democrats’ Divisions Linger, but Parties Have Seen Far Worse

Todd Gitlin, a historian, said both parties have over the years faced divisions that were deeper and that festered through Election Day, including when Hubert Humphrey emerged from a Democratic primary contest with Eugene McCarthy and Robert F. Kennedy to lose to Richard M. Nixon in 1968, as well as when Barry Goldwater, after a divided Republican convention four years earlier, lost to Lyndon B. Johnson.

The current Republican Party may also fall into that category, given how many powerful Republicans have refused to back Mr. Trump. “In 1968, the cleavage in the party was far deeper than it is now,” Mr. Gitlin said. “The hatred in the streets between the Humphrey supporters and the supporters of Kennedy and McCarthy was so intense. People like me didn’t vote. I don’t think we are looking at anything like that today.”