1972 United States presidential election
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538 members of the Electoral College 270 electoral votes needed to win | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Turnout | 56.2%[1] 6.3 pp | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Presidential election results map. Red denotes states won by Nixon/Agnew and Blue denotes those won by McGovern/Shriver. Gold is the electoral vote for electoral votes cast by each state and the District of Columbia. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Watergate scandal |
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Events |
People |
The 1972 United States presidential election was the 47th quadrennial presidential election held on Tuesday, November 7, 1972. Incumbent Republican president Richard Nixon defeated Democratic U.S. senator George McGovern in a landslide victory. With 60.7% of the popular vote, Richard Nixon won the largest share of the popular vote for the Republican Party in any presidential elections.
Nixon swept aside challenges from two Republican representatives in
Nixon emphasized the strong economy and his success in foreign affairs, while McGovern ran on a platform calling for an immediate end to the Vietnam War and the institution of a guaranteed minimum income. Nixon maintained a large lead in polling. Separately, Nixon's reelection committee broke into the Watergate complex to wiretap the Democratic National Committee's headquarters as part of the Watergate scandal. McGovern's general election campaign was damaged early on by revelations from his running mate Thomas Eagleton, as well as the perception that McGovern's platform was radical. Eagleton had undergone electroconvulsive therapy as a treatment for depression, and he was replaced by Sargent Shriver after only nineteen days on the ticket.
Nixon won the election in a landslide victory, taking 60.7% of the popular vote and carrying 49 states and becoming the first Republican to sweep the South, whereas McGovern took just 37.5% of the popular vote. Meanwhile, this marked the last time the Republican nominee carried Minnesota in a presidential election. This also made Nixon the first two-term vice president to be elected president twice. The 1972 election was the first since the ratification of the 26th Amendment, which lowered the voting age from 21 to 18, further expanding the electorate.
Both Nixon and his vice president Spiro Agnew would resign from office within two years of the election. The latter resigned due to a bribery scandal in October 1973, and the former resigned in the face of likely impeachment and conviction as a result of the Watergate scandal in August 1974. Republican House Minority Leader Gerald Ford replaced Agnew as vice president in December 1973, and thus, replaced Nixon as president in August 1974. Ford remains the only person in American history to become president without winning an election for president or vice president.
Despite this election delivering Nixon's greatest electoral triumph, Nixon later wrote in his memoirs that "it was one of the most frustrating and in many ways the least satisfying of all".[2]
Republican nomination
Republican candidates:
- Richard Nixon, President of the United States from California
- Pete McCloskey, Representative from California
- John M. Ashbrook, Representative from Ohio
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Pre-vice presidency 36th Vice President of the United States Post-vice presidency 37th President of the United States
Judicial appointments
Policies
First term
Second term
Post-presidency Presidential campaigns Vice presidential campaigns
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1972 Republican Party ticket | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Richard Nixon | Spiro Agnew | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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for President | for Vice President | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
37th President of the United States (1969–1974) |
39th Vice President of the United States (1969–1973) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Campaign | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Primaries
Nixon was a popular incumbent president in 1972, as he was credited with opening the
Primary results
Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|
Richard M. Nixon (incumbent) | 5,378,704 | 86.9 | |
Unpledged delegates | 317,048 | 5.1 | |
John M. Ashbrook
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311,543 | 5.0 | |
Paul N. McCloskey | 132,731 | 2.1 | |
George C. Wallace | 20,472 | 0.3 | |
"None of the names shown" | 5,350 | 0.1 | |
Others | 22,433 | 0.4 | |
Total votes | 6,188,281 | 100 |
Convention
Seven members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War were brought on federal charges for conspiring to disrupt the Republican convention.[5] They were acquitted by a federal jury in Gainesville, Florida.[5]
Democratic nomination
Overall, fifteen people declared their candidacy for the Democratic Party nomination. They were:[6][7]
- George McGovern, senator from South Dakota
- Hubert Humphrey, senator from Minnesota, former vice president, and presidential nominee in 1968
- George Wallace, Governor of Alabama
- Edmund Muskie, senator from Maine, vice presidential nominee in 1968
- Eugene J. McCarthy, former senator from Minnesota
- Henry M. Jackson, senator from Washington
- Shirley Chisholm, Representative of New York's 12th congressional district
- Terry Sanford, former governor of North Carolina
- John Lindsay, Mayor of New York City
- Wilbur Mills, representative of Arkansas's 2nd congressional district
- Vance Hartke, senator from Indiana
- Fred Harris, senator from Oklahoma
- Sam Yorty, Mayor of Los Angeles
- Patsy Mink, representative of Hawaii's 2nd congressional district
- Walter Fauntroy, Delegate from Washington, D. C.
1972 Democratic Party ticket | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
George McGovern | Sargent Shriver | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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for President | for Vice President | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
U.S. Senator from South Dakota (1963–1981) |
U.S. Ambassador to France (1968–1970) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Campaign | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Primaries
Nearly two years before the election, South Dakota Senator George McGovern entered the race as an anti-war, progressive candidate.[13] McGovern was able to pull together support from the anti-war movement and other grassroots support to win the nomination in a primary system he had played a significant part in designing.
On January 25, 1972, New York Representative Shirley Chisholm announced she would run, and became the first African-American woman to run for a major-party presidential nomination. Hawaii Representative Patsy Mink also announced she would run, and became the first Asian American person to run for the Democratic presidential nomination.[14]
On April 25, George McGovern won the Massachusetts primary. Two days later, journalist Robert Novak quoted a "Democratic senator", later revealed to be Thomas Eagleton, as saying: "The people don't know McGovern is for amnesty, abortion, and legalization of pot. Once middle America – Catholic middle America, in particular – finds this out, he's dead." The label stuck, and McGovern became known as the candidate of "amnesty, abortion, and acid". It became Humphrey's battle cry to stop McGovern—especially in the Nebraska primary.[15][16]
In the end, McGovern won the nomination by winning primaries through grassroots support, in spite of establishment opposition. McGovern had led a commission to re-design the Democratic nomination system after the divisive nomination struggle and convention of
Primary results
Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|
Hubert H. Humphrey | 4,121,372 | 25.8 | |
George S. McGovern | 4,053,451 | 25.3 | |
George C. Wallace | 3,755,424 | 23.5 | |
Edmund S. Muskie | 1,840,217 | 11.5 | |
Eugene J. McCarthy | 553,955 | 3.5 | |
Henry M. Jackson | 505,198 | 3.2 | |
Shirley A. Chisholm | 430,703 | 2.7 | |
James T. Sanford | 331,415 | 2.1 | |
John V. Lindsay | 196,406 | 1.2 | |
Sam W. Yorty | 79,446 | 0.5 | |
Wilbur D. Mills | 37,401 | 0.2 | |
Walter E. Fauntroy | 21,217 | 0.1 | |
Unpledged delegates | 19,533 | 0.1 | |
Edward M. Kennedy
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16,693 | 0.1 | |
Rupert V. Hartke | 11,798 | 0.1 | |
Patsy M. Mink | 8,286 | 0.1 | |
"None of the names shown" | 6,269 | 0 | |
Others | 5,181 | 0 | |
Total votes | 15,993,965 | 100 |
Notable endorsements
- Former
- Senator Harold Hughes from Iowa[19]
- Senator Birch Bayh from Indiana[20]
- Senator Adlai Stevenson III from Illinois[21]
- Senator Mike Gravel of Alaska[22]
- Former Senator Stephen M. Young from Ohio[23]
- Former
- Ohio State Treasurer Gertrude W. Donahey[25]
- Astronaut John Glenn from Ohio[23]
George McGovern
- Senator Frank Church from Idaho[26]
George Wallace
- Former Governor Lester Maddox of Georgia[27]
Shirley Chisholm
- Representative Ron Dellums from California[28]
- Feminist leader and author Betty Friedan[29]
- Feminist leader, journalist, and DNC official Gloria Steinem[30]
Terry Sanford
- Former President Lyndon B. Johnson from Texas[31]
Henry M. Jackson
- Governor Jimmy Carter of Georgia[32]
1972 Democratic National Convention
Results:
- George McGovern – 1864.95
- Henry M. Jackson – 525
- George Wallace – 381.7
- Shirley Chisholm – 151.95
- Terry Sanford – 77.5
- Hubert Humphrey – 66.7
- Wilbur Mills – 33.8
- Edmund Muskie – 24.3
- Ted Kennedy – 12.7
- Sam Yorty – 10
- Wayne Hays – 5
- John Lindsay – 5
- Fred Harris – 2
- Eugene McCarthy – 2
- Walter Mondale – 2
- Ramsey Clark – 1
- Walter Fauntroy – 1
- Vance Hartke – 1
- Harold Hughes – 1
- Patsy Mink – 1
Vice presidential vote
Most polls showed McGovern running well behind incumbent President
With hundreds of delegates displeased with McGovern, the vote to ratify Eagleton's candidacy was chaotic, with at least three other candidates having their names put into nomination and votes scattered over 70 candidates.[34] A grassroots attempt to displace Eagleton in favor of Texas state representative Frances Farenthold gained significant traction, though was ultimately unable to change the outcome of the vote.[35]
The vice-presidential balloting went on so long that McGovern and Eagleton were forced to begin making their acceptance speeches at around 2 am, local time.
After the convention ended, it was discovered that Eagleton had undergone psychiatric
McGovern later approached six prominent Democrats to run for vice president: Ted Kennedy,
Third parties
1972 American Independent Party ticket | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
John G. Schmitz | Thomas J. Anderson | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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for President | for Vice President | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
U.S. Representative from California's 35th district (1970–1973) |
Magazine publisher; conservative speaker | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Campaign | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Other Candidates | ||||||||
Lester Maddox | Thomas J. Anderson | George Wallace | ||||||
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Lieutenant Governor of Georgia (1967–1971) |
Magazine publisher; conservative speaker | Governor of Alabama (1963–1967, 1971–1979) 1968 AIP Presidential Nominee | ||||||
Campaign | Campaign | Campaign | ||||||
56 votes | 24 votes | 8 votes |
The only major
General election
Campaign
McGovern ran on a platform of immediately ending the Vietnam War and instituting a radical
Results
Nixon's percentage of the popular vote was only marginally less than Lyndon Johnson's record in the
Although the McGovern campaign believed that its candidate had a better chance of defeating Nixon because of the new
McGovern won a mere 130 counties, plus the District of Columbia and four county-equivalents in Alaska,[b] easily the fewest counties won by any major-party presidential nominee since the advent of popular presidential elections.[51] In nineteen states, McGovern failed to carry a single county;[c] he carried a mere one county-equivalent in a further nine states,[d] and just two counties in a further seven.[e] In contrast to Walter Mondale's narrow 1984 win in Minnesota, McGovern comfortably did win Massachusetts, but lost every other state by no less than five percentage points, as well as 45 states by more than ten percentage points – the exceptions being Massachusetts, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, and his home state of South Dakota. This election also made Nixon the second former vice president in American history to serve two terms back-to-back, after Thomas Jefferson in 1800 and 1804. As well as the only two-term Vice President to be elected President twice.
Since McGovern carried only one state, bumper stickers reading "Nixon 49 America 1",[52] "Don't Blame Me, I'm From Massachusetts", and "Massachusetts: The One And Only" were popular for a short time in Massachusetts.[53]
Nixon managed to win 18% of the African American vote (Gerald Ford would get 16% in 1976).
The Wallace vote had also been crucial to Nixon being able to sweep the states that had narrowly held out against him in 1968 (Texas, Maryland, and West Virginia), as well as the states Wallace won himself (Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia). The pro-Wallace group of voters had only given AIP nominee John Schmitz a depressing 2.4% of its support, while 19.1% backed McGovern, and the majority 78.5% broke for Nixon.
Nixon, who became term-limited under the provisions of the Twenty-second Amendment as a result of his victory, became the first (and, as of 2023, only) presidential candidate to win a significant number of electoral votes in three presidential elections since the ratification of that Amendment. As of 2023, Nixon was the seventh of seven presidential nominees to win a significant number of electoral votes in at least three elections, the others being Thomas Jefferson, Henry Clay, Andrew Jackson, Grover Cleveland, William Jennings Bryan, and Franklin D. Roosevelt. He is the only Republican ever to do so.
The 520 electoral votes received by Nixon, added to the 301 electoral votes he received in 1968, and the 219 electoral votes he received in 1960, gave him the most total electoral votes received by any candidate who had been previously Vice President to become president (1,040) and the second largest number of electoral votes received by any candidate who was elected to the office of president behind Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1,876 total electoral votes.
Presidential candidate | Party | Home state | Popular vote[55] | Electoral vote[56] |
Running mate | |||
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Count | Percentage | Vice-presidential candidate | Home state | Electoral vote[56] | ||||
Richard Nixon (incumbent) | Republican | California | 47,168,710 | 60.67% | 520 | Spiro T. Agnew (incumbent)
|
Maryland | 520 |
George McGovern | Democratic | South Dakota | 29,173,222 | 37.52% | 17 | Sargent Shriver | Maryland | 17 |
John G. Schmitz | American Independent | California | 1,100,896 | 1.42% | 0 | Thomas J. Anderson | Tennessee | 0 |
Linda Jenness | Socialist Workers | Georgia | 83,380[g] | 0.11% | 0 | Andrew Pulley | Illinois | 0 |
Benjamin Spock | People's
|
California | 78,759 | 0.10% | 0 | Julius Hobson | District of Columbia
|
0 |
Louis Fisher | Socialist Labor | Illinois | 53,814 | 0.07% | 0 | Genevieve Gunderson | Minnesota | 0 |
John G. Hospers | Libertarian | California | 3,674 | 0.00% | 1[h][47] | Theodora Nathan
|
Oregon | 1[h][47] |
Other | 81,575 | 0.10% | — | Other | — | |||
Total | 77,744,030 | 100% | 538 | 538 | ||||
Needed to win | 270 | 270 |
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Results by county, shaded according to winning candidate's percentage of the vote
Results by state
- Legend
States/districts won by Nixon/Agnew | |
States/districts won by McGovern/Shriver | |
† | At-large results (Maine used the Congressional District Method) |
Richard Nixon Republican |
George McGovern Democratic |
John Schmitz American Independent |
John Hospers Libertarian |
Margin | State Total | ||||||||||||
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State | electoral votes |
# | % | electoral votes |
# | % | electoral votes |
# | % | electoral votes |
# | % | electoral votes |
# | % | # | |
Alabama | 9 | 728,701 | 72.43 | 9 | 256,923 | 25.54 | 11,918 | 1.18 | 471,778 | 46.89 | 1,006,093 | AL | |||||
Alaska | 3 | 55,349 | 58.13 | 3 | 32,967 | 34.62 | 6,903 | 7.25 | 22,382 | 23.51 | 95,219 | AK | |||||
Arizona | 6 | 402,812 | 61.64 | 6 | 198,540 | 30.38 | 21,208 | 3.25 | 204,272 | 31.26 | 653,505 | AZ | |||||
Arkansas | 6 | 445,751 | 68.82 | 6 | 198,899 | 30.71 | 3,016 | 0.47 | 246,852 | 38.11 | 647,666 | AR | |||||
California | 45 | 4,602,096 | 55.00 | 45 | 3,475,847 | 41.54 | 232,554 | 2.78 | 980 | 0.01 | 1,126,249 | 13.46 | 8,367,862 | CA | |||
Colorado | 7 | 597,189 | 62.61 | 7 | 329,980 | 34.59 | 17,269 | 1.81 | 1,111 | 0.12 | 267,209 | 28.01 | 953,884 | CO | |||
Connecticut | 8 | 810,763 | 58.57 | 8 | 555,498 | 40.13 | 17,239 | 1.25 | 255,265 | 18.44 | 1,384,277 | CT | |||||
Delaware | 3 | 140,357 | 59.60 | 3 | 92,283 | 39.18 | 2,638 | 1.12 | 48,074 | 20.41 | 235,516 | DE | |||||
D.C. | 3 | 35,226 | 21.56 | 127,627 | 78.10 | 3 | −92,401 | −56.54 | 163,421 | DC | |||||||
Florida | 17 | 1,857,759 | 71.91 | 17 | 718,117 | 27.80 | 1,139,642 | 44.12 | 2,583,283 | FL | |||||||
Georgia | 12 | 881,496 | 75.04 | 12 | 289,529 | 24.65 | 812 | 0.07 | 591,967 | 50.39 | 1,174,772 | GA | |||||
Hawaii | 4 | 168,865 | 62.48 | 4 | 101,409 | 37.52 | 67,456 | 24.96 | 270,274 | HI | |||||||
Idaho | 4 | 199,384 | 64.24 | 4 | 80,826 | 26.04 | 28,869 | 9.30 | 118,558 | 38.20 | 310,379 | ID | |||||
Illinois | 26 | 2,788,179 | 59.03 | 26 | 1,913,472 | 40.51 | 2,471 | 0.05 | 874,707 | 18.52 | 4,723,236 | IL | |||||
Indiana | 13 | 1,405,154 | 66.11 | 13 | 708,568 | 33.34 | 696,586 | 32.77 | 2,125,529 | IN | |||||||
Iowa | 8 | 706,207 | 57.61 | 8 | 496,206 | 40.48 | 22,056 | 1.80 | 210,001 | 17.13 | 1,225,944 | IA | |||||
Kansas | 7 | 619,812 | 67.66 | 7 | 270,287 | 29.50 | 21,808 | 2.38 | 349,525 | 38.15 | 916,095 | KS | |||||
Kentucky | 9 | 676,446 | 63.37 | 9 | 371,159 | 34.77 | 17,627 | 1.65 | 305,287 | 28.60 | 1,067,499 | KY | |||||
Louisiana | 10 | 686,852 | 65.32 | 10 | 298,142 | 28.35 | 52,099 | 4.95 | 388,710 | 36.97 | 1,051,491 | LA | |||||
Maine † | 2 | 256,458 | 61.46 | 2 | 160,584 | 38.48 | 117 | 0.03 | 1 | 0.00 | 95,874 | 22.98 | 417,271 | ME | |||
Maine-1 | 1 | 135,388 | 61.42 | 1 | 85,028 | 38.58 | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | 50,360 | 22.85 | 220,416 | ME1 | |||
Maine-2 | 1 | 121,120 | 61.58 | 1 | 75,556 | 38.42 | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown | 45,564 | 23.17 | 196,676 | ME2 | |||
Maryland | 10 | 829,305 | 61.26 | 10 | 505,781 | 37.36 | 18,726 | 1.38 | 323,524 | 23.90 | 1,353,812 | MD | |||||
Massachusetts | 14 | 1,112,078 | 45.23 | 1,332,540 | 54.20 | 14 | 2,877 | 0.12 | 43 | 0.00 | −220,462 | −8.97 | 2,458,756 | MA | |||
Michigan | 21 | 1,961,721 | 56.20 | 21 | 1,459,435 | 41.81 | 63,321 | 1.81 | 502,286 | 14.39 | 3,490,325 | MI | |||||
Minnesota | 10 | 898,269 | 51.58 | 10 | 802,346 | 46.07 | 31,407 | 1.80 | 95,923 | 5.51 | 1,741,652 | MN | |||||
Mississippi | 7 | 505,125 | 78.20 | 7 | 126,782 | 19.63 | 11,598 | 1.80 | 378,343 | 58.57 | 645,963 | MS | |||||
Missouri | 12 | 1,154,058 | 62.29 | 12 | 698,531 | 37.71 | 455,527 | 24.59 | 1,852,589 | MO | |||||||
Montana | 4 | 183,976 | 57.93 | 4 | 120,197 | 37.85 | 13,430 | 4.23 | 63,779 | 20.08 | 317,603 | MT | |||||
Nebraska | 5 | 406,298 | 70.50 | 5 | 169,991 | 29.50 | 236,307 | 41.00 | 576,289 | NE | |||||||
Nevada | 3 | 115,750 | 63.68 | 3 | 66,016 | 36.32 | 49,734 | 27.36 | 181,766 | NV | |||||||
New Hampshire | 4 | 213,724 | 63.98 | 4 | 116,435 | 34.86 | 3,386 | 1.01 | 97,289 | 29.12 | 334,055 | NH | |||||
New Jersey | 17 | 1,845,502 | 61.57 | 17 | 1,102,211 | 36.77 | 34,378 | 1.15 | 743,291 | 24.80 | 2,997,229 | NJ | |||||
New Mexico | 4 | 235,606 | 61.05 | 4 | 141,084 | 36.56 | 8,767 | 2.27 | 94,522 | 24.49 | 385,931 | NM | |||||
New York | 41 | 4,192,778 | 58.54 | 41 | 2,951,084 | 41.21 | 1,241,694 | 17.34 | 7,161,830 | NY | |||||||
North Carolina | 13 | 1,054,889 | 69.46 | 13 | 438,705 | 28.89 | 25,018 | 1.65 | 616,184 | 40.58 | 1,518,612 | NC | |||||
North Dakota | 3 | 174,109 | 62.07 | 3 | 100,384 | 35.79 | 5,646 | 2.01 | 73,725 | 26.28 | 280,514 | ND | |||||
Ohio | 25 | 2,441,827 | 59.63 | 25 | 1,558,889 | 38.07 | 80,067 | 1.96 | 882,938 | 21.56 | 4,094,787 | OH | |||||
Oklahoma | 8 | 759,025 | 73.70 | 8 | 247,147 | 24.00 | 23,728 | 2.30 | 511,878 | 49.70 | 1,029,900 | OK | |||||
Oregon | 6 | 486,686 | 52.45 | 6 | 392,760 | 42.33 | 46,211 | 4.98 | 93,926 | 10.12 | 927,946 | OR | |||||
Pennsylvania | 27 | 2,714,521 | 59.11 | 27 | 1,796,951 | 39.13 | 70,593 | 1.54 | 917,570 | 19.98 | 4,592,105 | PA | |||||
Rhode Island | 4 | 220,383 | 53.00 | 4 | 194,645 | 46.81 | 25 | 0.01 | 2 | 0.00 | 25,738 | 6.19 | 415,808 | RI | |||
South Carolina | 8 | 478,427 | 70.58 | 8 | 189,270 | 27.92 | 10,166 | 1.50 | 289,157 | 42.66 | 677,880 | SC | |||||
South Dakota | 4 | 166,476 | 54.15 | 4 | 139,945 | 45.52 | 26,531 | 8.63 | 307,415 | SD | |||||||
Tennessee | 10 | 813,147 | 67.70 | 10 | 357,293 | 29.75 | 30,373 | 2.53 | 455,854 | 37.95 | 1,201,182 | TN | |||||
Texas | 26 | 2,298,896 | 66.20 | 26 | 1,154,291 | 33.24 | 7,098 | 0.20 | 1,144,605 | 32.96 | 3,472,714 | TX | |||||
Utah | 4 | 323,643 | 67.64 | 4 | 126,284 | 26.39 | 28,549 | 5.97 | 197,359 | 41.25 | 478,476 | UT | |||||
Vermont | 3 | 117,149 | 62.66 | 3 | 68,174 | 36.47 | 48,975 | 26.20 | 186,947 | VT | |||||||
Virginia | 12 | 988,493 | 67.84 | 11 | 438,887 | 30.12 | 19,721 | 1.35 | 1 | 549,606 | 37.72 | 1,457,019 | VA | ||||
Washington | 9 | 837,135 | 56.92 | 9 | 568,334 | 38.64 | 58,906 | 4.00 | 1,537 | 0.10 | 268,801 | 18.28 | 1,470,847 | WA | |||
West Virginia | 6 | 484,964 | 63.61 | 6 | 277,435 | 36.39 | 207,529 | 27.22 | 762,399 | WV | |||||||
Wisconsin | 11 | 989,430 | 53.40 | 11 | 810,174 | 43.72 | 47,525 | 2.56 | 179,256 | 9.67 | 1,852,890 | WI | |||||
Wyoming | 3 | 100,464 | 69.01 | 3 | 44,358 | 30.47 | 748 | 0.51 | 56,106 | 38.54 | 145,570 | WY | |||||
TOTALS: | 538 | 47,168,710 | 60.67 | 520 | 29,173,222 | 37.52 | 17 | 1,100,868 | 1.42 | 0 | 3,674 | 0.00 | 1 | 17,995,488 | 23.15 | 77,744,027 | US |
For the first time since 1828, Maine allowed its electoral votes to be split between candidates. Two electoral votes were awarded to the winner of the statewide race and one electoral vote to the winner of each congressional district. This was the first time the Congressional District Method had been used since Michigan used it in 1892. Nixon won all four votes.[59]
States that flipped from Democratic to Republican
- Connecticut
- Hawaii
- Maine
- Maryland
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- New York
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- Texas
- Washington
- West Virginia
States that flipped from American Independent to Republican
- Georgia
- Louisiana
- Alabama
- Mississippi
- Arkansas
Close states
States where margin of victory was more than 5 percentage points, but less than 10 percentage points (43 electoral votes):
|
Tipping point states:
- Ohio, 21.56% (882,938 votes) (tipping point for a Nixon victory)
- Maine-1, 22.85% (50,360 votes) (tipping point for a McGovern victory)[60]
Statistics
Counties with highest percentage of the vote (Republican)
- Dade County, Georgia 93.45%
- Glascock County, Georgia 93.38%
- George County, Mississippi 92.90%
- Holmes County, Florida 92.51%
- Smith County, Mississippi 92.35%
Counties with highest percentage of the vote (Democratic)
- Duval County, Texas 85.68%
- Washington, D. C. 78.10%
- Shannon County, South Dakota 77.34%
- Greene County, Alabama 68.32%
- Charles City County, Virginia 67.84%
Counties with highest percentage of the vote (Other)
- Jefferson County, Idaho 27.51%
- Lemhi County, Idaho 19.77%
- Fremont County, Idaho 19.32%
- Bonneville County, Idaho 18.97%
- Madison County, Idaho 17.04%
Voter demographics
Nixon won 36 percent of the Democratic vote, according to an
Aftermath
On June 17, 1972, five months before election day, five men broke into the
As part of the continuing Watergate investigation in 1974–1975, federal prosecutors offered companies that had given illegal campaign contributions to President Nixon's re-election campaign lenient sentences if they came forward.
Despite this election delivering Nixon's greatest electoral triumph, Nixon later wrote in his memoirs that "it was one of the most frustrating and in many ways the least satisfying of all".[64]
See also
- 1972 United States House of Representatives elections
- 1972 United States Senate elections
- 1972 United States gubernatorial elections
- George McGovern 1972 presidential campaign
- Second inauguration of Richard Nixon
- Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72, a collection of articles by Hunter S. Thompson on the subject of the election, focusing on the McGovern campaign.
Explanatory notes
- ^ A faithless Republican elector voted for the Libertarian ticket: Hospers–Nathan
- Hoonah-Angoon Census Areas
- Vermontor Wyoming
- Virginia (Charles City), and West Virginia (Logan)
- Washington State
- ^ Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952 also obtained a plurality in Presidio County
- ^ In Arizona, Pima and Yavapai counties had an unusually formatted ballot that led voters to believe they could vote for a major party presidential candidate and simultaneously vote the six individual Socialist Workers Party presidential electors. Technically, these were overvotes, and should not have counted for either the major party candidates or the Socialist Workers Party electors. Within two days of the election, the Attorney General and Pima County Attorney had agreed that all votes should count. The Socialist Workers Party had not qualified as a party, and thus did not have a presidential candidate. In the official state canvass, votes for Nixon, McGovern, or Schmitz, are shown as being for the presidential candidate, the party, and the elector slate of the party; while those for the Socialist Worker Party elector candidates were for those candidates only. In the view of the Secretary of State, the votes were not for Linda Jenness. Some tabulations count the votes for Jenness. Historically, presidential candidate names did not appear on ballots, and voters voted directly for the electors. Nonetheless, votes for the electors are attributed to the presidential candidate. Counting the votes in Arizona for Jenness is consistent with this practice. Because of the confusing ballots, Socialist Workers Party electors received votes on about 21 percent and 8 percent of ballots in Pima and Yavapai, respectively. 30,579 of the party's 30,945 Arizona votes are from those two counties.[57]
- Theodora "Tonie" Nathan.
Citations
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But of likely greater impediment was the sheer number of those involved, the many "senior advisors" like Clark Clifford and W. Averell Harriman and Luther B. Hodges, and the 19 senators, 34 congressmen and nine governors who had publicly enorsed Muskie.
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Hughes has spent much of this week helping Muskie, whom Hughes endorsed early this year as the candidate most likely to unify the party and defeat President Nixon in November.
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Gov. Milton Shapp of Pennsylvania endorsed Senator Edmund S. Muskie, dealing a sharp blow to Senator Hubert H. Humphrey's presidential ambitions.
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Maddox, a booster of fellow Democrat Alabama Gov. George Wallace, said Thursday it may be best to turn the present party "over to the promoters of anarchy, Socialism and Communism" and form what he called a New Democratic Party of the People.
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Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter endorsed Sen. Henry Jackson of Washington for the Democratic presidential nomination Tuesday and said he would nominate Jackson at the convention tonight.
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- ^ from the original on December 29, 2019. Retrieved December 1, 2019.
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Bibliography and further reading
- Alexander, Herbert E. Financing the 1972 Election (1976) online
- Giglio, James N. (2009). "The Eagleton Affair: Thomas Eagleton, George McGovern, and the 1972 Vice Presidential Nomination". .
- Graebner, Norman A. (1973). "Presidential Politics in a Divided America: 1972". .
- Hofstetter, C. Richard; Zukin, Cliff (1979). "TV Network News and Advertising in the Nixon and McGovern Campaigns". S2CID 144048423.
- Hofstetter, C. Richard. Bias in the news: Network television coverage of the 1972 election campaign (Ohio State University Press, 1976) online
- Johnstone, Andrew, and Andrew Priest, eds. US Presidential Elections and Foreign Policy: Candidates, Campaigns, and Global Politics from FDR to Bill Clinton (2017) pp 203–228. online
- Miller, Arthur H., et al. "A majority party in disarray: Policy polarization in the 1972 election." American Political Science Review 70.3 (1976): 753-778; widely cited; online
- Nicholas, H. G. (1973). "The 1972 Elections". S2CID 145606732.
- Perry, James M. Us & them: how the press covered the 1972 election (1973) online
- Simons, Herbert W., James W. Chesebro, and C. Jack Orr. "A movement perspective on the 1972 presidential election." Quarterly Journal of Speech 59.2 (1973): 168-179. online Archived September 23, 2022, at the Wayback Machine
- Trent, Judith S., and Jimmie D. Trent. "The rhetoric of the challenger: George Stanley McGovern." Communication Studies 25.1 (1974): 11-18.
- ISBN 0-689-10553-3.
Primary sources
- Chester, Edward W. (1977). A guide to political platforms.
- Porter, Kirk H. and Donald Bruce Johnson, eds. National party platforms, 1840–1972 (1973)
External links
- The Election Wall's 1972 Election Video Page
- 1972 popular vote by counties
- 1972 popular vote by states
- 1972 popular vote by states (with bar graphs)
- Campaign commercials from the 1972 election
- C-SPAN segment on 1972 campaign commercials
- C-SPAN segment on the "Eagleton Affair"
- Election of 1972 in Counting the Votes