Wilson defeated charles evans hughes in the election of 1916 for all of the following reasons excepta. midwesterners and westerners, attracted by wilson's progressive reforms and antiwar policies, flocked to the polls for the president. b. the pro-labor wilson received strong support from the working class. c. wilson had worked through his first term to identify himself as the candidate of progressivism. d. wilson received strong support from renegade bull moose voters, whom republicans failed to lure back into their camp. e. wilson's sweep of the eastern part of the country overcame his narrow loss in california.