Question

Why is the populist party generally regarded as a failure by historians

Answer 1

The Populist Party was a third party created due to the discontent of farmers against the major political parties (Republican and Democratic parties) because of the Gold Standard issue, and because they felt ignored. This Party is often regarded as a failure because it focused on one issue (to increase the money supply) and tried to gain the support of farmers and workers, but the workers' wants and needs were different than those of the farmers, so the Populist Party didn't had all the support it needed to succeed and ended up being absorbed by the Progressive Party. Although the Populist Party didn't succeed, it helped creating awareness of the farmers conditions, so that the Republican and Democratic parties could also focus on that side of the population.