No one thought that their party party would have a bigger impact than the democrat and republican party.
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Omaha Platform
A graduated income tax, Limits on immigration, and the secret ballot
The Populist Party was popular in Cleveland, Ohio where it began. It first appeared in the Presidential election of 1892.
William McKinley and William J. Bryan ran in both the 1896 race and the 1900 race. McKinley was a Republican and ran on a conservative platform. He attracted supporters that were in the upper crust. Bryan was the Democratic and Populist candidate; he represented the working man and advocated crusade against the rich.
Even allowing for political hyperbole, the Populist claim was essentially true. The Populist Party, like many American institutions at that time, was divided internally over issues of race, geography, economic orientationBut in that platform of 1892 they laid out a program of reform designed to help the small farmer, the small businessman and all others who saw themselves