Pollster who aided Carter dies at 68

WASHINGTON — Patrick Caddell, a pollster who helped propel Jimmy Carter in his long-shot bid to win the presidency and later distanced himself from Democrats, has died, a colleague said Saturday night. He was 68.

Caddell died Saturday in Charleston, S.C., after suffering a stroke, according to Professor Kendra Stewart of the College of Charleston, who confirmed the death.

After working with Democrats in the 1970s and 1980s, Caddell eventually drifted away from the Democratic Party and began advising supporters of Republican Donald Trump. Caddell also was a contributor to Fox News for a time.

Caddell worked for 1972 Democratic presidential nominee George McGovern, then joined with Carter in the mid-1970s to develop a campaign strategy to overcome the cynicism spawned by the Vietnam War and Watergate. In an oral history for the University of Virginia’s Miller Center, Caddell said Carter’s best bet was to present himself as an outsider who could help heal the country.

Caddell consulted with other Democratic candidates in the 1980s and was a close adviser to Joe Biden during his failed 1988 bid for the presidency.

In explaining his break from Democrats, Caddell said he thought the party was no longer “a party of the people” but had been hijacked by elites, the well-educated, Wall Street and interest groups.

Stewart said Caddell died early Saturday at the hospital and had not been ill, so it was a surprise to those who knew him.

“He was a passionate man who wanted nothing more than to leave his grandchildren a better country,” Stewart said.

Caddell