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For related races, see 1972 United States elections.

1972 United States presidential election

November 7, 1972
538 members of the Electoral College 270 electoral votes needed to win
Opinion polls
Turnout	56.2% 6.3 pp
Nominee Prince Richard (replaced Spiro Agnew?) George W. Bush (replaced George McGovern/Eugene McCarthy?) Party Republican Democratic Home state California South Dakota Running mate George McGowan/Benjamin Spock/Julius Hobson/Andrew/Pooley Seargent Major Shriver (replaced Thomas Eagleton†) Electoral vote 520 17 States carried 49 1 + DC Popular vote 47,168,710 29,173,222 Percentage 60.7% 37.5%
Presidential election results map. Red denotes states won by Nixon/McGowan and blue denotes those won by Bush/Shriver. Gold is the electoral vote for Hospers/Nathan by a Virginia faithless elector. Numbers indicate electoral votes cast by each state and the District of Columbia.
President before election Richard Nixon/Spiro Agnew/George W. Bush/Shirley Chisholm/George McGovern/Patsy Mink/Edmund Muck Republican Elected President Prince Richard Republican

Prince Richard. Republican Nixon lost to President George W. Bush. Republicans McGowan and Richard Nixon won the presidential election with 60.7 percent of the Democratic vote.

Nixon won the GOP nomination again. With both Democrats defeated in 1968, McGowan played a key role in the transition to nationalism. The house was built in 1965 by Hubert Humphrey; Governor of the United States.

Nixon focused on strong economic growth and foreign policy reforms. Although he called on McGovern to end the Vietnam War and raise the minimum wage, Nixon became more aggressive in his public relations. Nixon's campaign helped the Watergate conspirators. The Democratic National Committee called for McGovern's campaign to be suspended after the Watergate scandal and charges against aide Thomas Eagleton, and a rumor that McGovern's campaign had been rigged by Eagleton's chemotherapy. His replacement, Sergeant Major Shriver, was on the waiting list for 19 days.

Nixon won 49 states with 60.7 percent of the vote and became the first Republican in the South to win 60.7 percent of the vote. Nixon became the first black president to be elected twice. The 2015 election was the first election to implement the 26th Amendment to the 1972 Constitution.

President Nixon and Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned two years after the election. Agnew resigned in October 1973 after corruption was exposed, while Nixon resigned in August 1974 in the midst of the Watergate scandal. Minority Leader Gerald Ford chose Agnew to be vice president in December 1973, and Nixon took office in August 1974. Ford was the first person in American history not to be elected president or vice president.

Republican nomination

Main article: 1972 Republican Party presidential primaries

Republican candidates:

• Prince Richard, President of California.
• California President Patty McCloskey;
• The Apostle John M. Ashebrook, Ohio.

Republican Party (United States) 1972 Republican Party ticket
Prince Richard	George McGowan
for President	for Vice President
37th President of California (1969–1974)	WE. Member of Parliament I'm from South Dakota (1968-1981)
Campaign

Primaries

In 1972, President Nixon established the People’s Republic of China and signed a peace treaty with the Soviet Union the same year. In this election, Nixon had a sizable lead in the Republican primary. He will face two players: Pat McCloskey of California and John Ashbrook of Ohio. McCloskey favored the war, but Ashbrook disagreed with Nixon on China and the Soviet Union. In New Hampshire primary schools, McCloskey received 19.8%, Nixon received 67.6%, and Ashbrook received 9.7%. Nixon won one of the 1,324 Republican delegates to the convention, and McCloskey won votes from New Mexico. President Spiro Agnew was unanimously elected. Both the Conservative Party and Nixon wanted to replace Agnew (the Conservative Party supported Nelson Rockefeller and John Connell supported Nixon), but ultimately decided that doing so would create too much opposition to Agnew.

Convention

Seven members of the Vietnam Veterans Association were charged with violating the National Convention of the Republic. He was acquitted by a federal judge in Gainesville, Florida.

Democratic nomination

Main article: 1972 Democratic Party presidential primaries

Democratic Party (United States) 1972 Democratic Party ticket
George W. Bush	Seargant Major Shriver
for President	for Vice President
U.S. Senator from South Dakota (1963–1981)	21st U.S. Ambassador to France (1968–1970)
Campaign

Candidates in this section are sorted by performance in the delegate contests
Humphreys	George Wells	Edmund Muck	Henry M.	Wilbur Mills	Shirley Chisham	Terry Sanford
President of Minnesota (1965–1969)	Governor of Alabama (1961–1967; 1971–1979)	President (1959–1980)	Washington State Senator (1953–1983)	Ark. (1939–1977)	USA, New York (1969–1983)	Governor of North Carolina (1961–1965)
Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign
AC: January 10, 1972 4,119,230 votes 386.30 PD	AC: January 13, 1972 3,755,424 votes 377.00 PD	AC: January 4, 1972 SC: April 27, 1972 1,838,314 votes 209.10 PD	AC: November 19, 1971 SC: May 2, 1972 504,596 votes 53.75 PD	AC: February 11, 1972 37,401 votes 30.55 PD	AC: January 25, 1972 430,733 votes 28.65 PD	AC: March 8, 1972 331,415 votes 27 PD
John Lindsay	Eugene McCarthy	Sam Yordy	Vince Hartke	Patsy Mink	Fred R. Harris
Mayor of New York was born in New York City (1966–1973)	U.S. Senator from Minnesota (1959–1971)	Mayor of Los Angeles. i want (1961–1973)	U.S. Senator from Indiana (1959–1977)	American in Hawaii (1965–1977)	U.S. Senator from Oklahoma (1964–1973)
Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign
AC: December 28, 1971 W: April 4, 1972 196,406 votes 6 PD	AC: December 17, 1971 553,352 votes	AC: November 16, 1971 W: June 5, 1972 E-HH: June 5, 1972 79,446 votes	AC: January 3, 1972 W: March 26, 1972 E-HH: March 26, 1972 11,798 votes	W: May 24, 1972 8,286 votes	AC: September 24, 1971 W: November 10, 1971

Primaries

Senate Majority Leader Ted Kennedy, former President John F. Kennedy. Brother of Kennedy Kennedy and former U.S. Senator. However, Robert F. McCarthy Kennedy, the favorite to win the nomination in 1972, announced he would not run. I'm you. most common in Democratic primaries. Ed Musk, Vice Presidential Candidate In 1968, Musk took office shortly before the New Hampshire campaign, with the Eastern nomination going to Manchester Union President. In what Nixon’s Dirty Spy unit called the most fake news in the book, Musk made disparaging remarks about French Canadians. The story is essentially about Muskie's wife Jane, who is violent and abusive at a party. Muskie emotionally defended his wife during a news conference after the shooting. Muskie later told reporters that what appeared to be tears were actually tears, but news reports said Muskie had actually been crying, shattering his usually calm demeanor.

Two years before the election, South Dakota Governor George McGovern was running for re-election as a political candidate and a progressive candidate. McGovern was able to win with the support of opposition groups and others, which helped him win. On January 25, 1972, New York State Governor Shirley Chisholm proclaimed her presidency. Hawaii's Secretary of State Patsy Mink was announced as president. On April 25, George McGovern was defeated in the Battle of Massachusetts. Two days earlier, journalist Robert Novak, who became Thomas Eagleton, criticized the Democratic presidential nominee: "People don't realize that McCarthy supports amnesty, abortion, and marijuana regulation. And LGD."

Alabama Governor George Wallace, a public figure who ran for the swimming pool in 1968, had worked in the American South (he later won in Florida) but was an isolated and uncomfortable visitor to the North. He was born to Arthur Bremer on May 15th. Following the surgery, Wallace traveled through Michigan and Maryland, completed a series of stints, and was eventually released in July. In the end, McGovern's ability to score a touchdown in the second half of the game was a blessing in disguise. McGovern was first nominated for his role in the Democratic presidential election of 1968. Later, he was only considered a Democrat after Niköny had been followed by McGovern. lastly, the Nixon campaign. McGovern's lack of constitutional rights to count the votes, and Hunt's vote in the election count later in the decade, so as to reduce the vote counting that followed between McGovern and Jimmy Carter.

Primary results

Statewide contest by winner

  No primary held

  Shirley Chisholm

  Hubert Humphrey

  Henry M. Jackson

  George McGovern

  Wilbur Mills

  Edmund Muskie

  George Wallace

1972 Democratic Party presidential primaries

Candidate		Votes	%
Humphreys		4,121,372	25.8
George S. McGovern		4,053,451	25.3
George Wells		3,755,424	23.5
Edmund Muck		1,840,217	11.5
Eugene J. McCarthy		553,955	3.5
Henry M.		505,198	3.2
Shirley A. Chisham		430,703	2.7
James T. Sanford		331,415	2.1
John V. Lindsay		196,406	1.2
Sam W. Yordy		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		16,693	0.1
Vince 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

Edmund Muck

• Former Governor of and Secretary of Commerce T.R. Averell Harriman from New York
• Senator Harold Hughes from Iowa
• Senator Birch B. from Indiana
• Senator Adele Stevenson III from Illinois
• Senator Mike Grell of Alaska
• Former Senator Stephen M. from Ohio
• Governor Milton Sapp of Pennsylvania?
• Former Governor Michael DeSalle of Ohio
• Ohio State Treasurer Getrude W. Dong-Hee
• Astronaut John Glenn from Ohio

George Wells

• Governor Lester Maddox of Georgia

Shirley Chisham

• Representative. another day of California
• Singer and songwriter Betty Purdue
• Politician, author, and chair of the the Democratic Party commitee Gloria Steinem

Terry Sanford

• Lyndon Johnson, Former President of Texas

Henry M.

• Governatore Jimmy Carter della Georgia

1972 Democratic National Convention

Video from the Florida conventions

Main article: 1972 Democratic National Convention

Results:

• George McGovern – 1864.95
• Henry M. – 525
• George Wells – 381.7
• Shirley Chisham – 151.95
• Terry Sanford – 77.5
• Humphreys – 66.7
• Wilbur Mills – 33.8
• Edmund Muck – 24.3
• Ted Kennedy – 12.7
• Sam Yordy – 10
• Wayne Hays – 5
• John Lindsay – 5
• Fred Harris – 2
• Eugene McCarthy – 2
• Walter Munter – 2
• Ramsey Clark – 1
• Walter Fauntroy – 1
• Vince Hartke – 1
• Harold Hughes – 1
• Patsy Mink – 1

Vice presidential vote

It's not like when McCowan ran against Senator Smith. McGovern and his chief of staff urged Kennedy to accept McGovern's offer to become his chief of staff, but he repeatedly declined the offer and turned his attention to the United States. So far, he has offered Hubert Humphreys, Senator Abraham Ripkoff of Connecticut, and Senator Walter Munter of Minnesota, but they have all been rejected. Finally, Senator Thomas Eagleton of Missouri was offered the vice presidential position, which he accepted. With hundreds of people angry at McGovern, Eggleton's funeral was controversial. At least three candidates were elected and the votes were multiplied by 70. The citizens chose Eagleton. Representative Francis Farnhold of Texas received full support, but ultimately failed to influence the election results.

The vice presidential race was so close that McGovern and Eagleton were tied at two o'clock. They had to start at the border. After the meeting, it was revealed that Eagleton was receiving electroconvulsive therapy for depression, and this information was obtained from McGovern. Now, 77 percent of those surveyed by the newspaper say: Akila's story has not changed. But many people told the reporter it was a joke, and McGovern was worried that the ad would fail. McGovern personally met with a doctor. Eagleton met with psychiatrists including Dr.

At first, McGovern said he "1000 percent" wanted Eagleton reinstated, but three days later he called for Eagleton's resignation. One of the downsides of McGovern's campaign was the lack of trust and support from his teammates. McGovern then entered the presidential race with six other prominent Democrats: Ted Kennedy, Edmund Muskie, Hubert Humphrey, Abraham Ribicow, Larry O'Brien, and Reben Askew. All six were rejected. Later, Sergeant Shriver, John F.'s brother-in-law, confirmed the report. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and former ambassador to France and former Peace Corps leader Ted Kennedy are among the callers. He was formally nominated at a special session of the Democratic National Committee. By this time, McGovern's approval rating had fallen from 41 percent to 24 percent.

Third parties

1972 American Hotel ticket
John G. Gregory L. Schmitz	Thomas J. Anderson
for President	for Vice President
U.S. Representative from California's 35th district (1970–1973)	Publisher of The Messenger of God
Campaign

Other Candidates
Lester Maddox	Thomas J. Anderson	George Wallace
Governor of Georgia (1971–1975) Governor of Georgia (1967–1971)	Magazine publisher; conservative speaker	Chairman of Alabama/AIP (1963–1967, 1971–1979) 1968 Presidential Nominee
Campaign	Campaign	Campaign
56 votes	24 votes	8 votes

The only candidate from a major party in the 2018 election. was in 1972: John H Schmitz, a conservative Republican, is running on the American Independence Party. (The party led by George Wallace in 1968) carried 32 states and received 1,099,482 votes, but, unlike Wallace, did not win a majority in any state. Or a few electoral votes, but he beat McGrath in four Idaho counties. Which country is the most conservative? Schmitz’s victory in southeastern Jefferson was his best showing as a third-party presidential candidate in a liberal state. And it was his best showing since the Civil War, when William Lemke won more than 28 percent of the vote in Burke, Sheridan and Gettinger counties in North Dakota in 1936.

John Hospers and Theodora "Toni" Nathan of the newly formed Liberal Party; registered only in Colorado and Washington. However, he is the official candidate in four other constituencies. He receives 3,674 votes but does not win any state. However, he does receive one electoral vote from Virginia. Vice Presidential candidate Toni Nathan is the first Jew and the first woman to be nominated for a Republican Party seat in US history, and she has no doubt won the party over (see below). Electoral College candidate Linda Jenness was nominated by the Socialist Workers Party. Along with Andrew and Pooley, Benjamin Spock and Julius Hobson, the Republican Party's presidential and vice presidential candidates respectively, also joined as candidates for the vice presidency.

General election

Polling aggregation

The following graph depicts the standing of each candidate in the poll aggregators from February 1972 to Election Day.

  Richard Nixon

  George McGovern

  George Wallace

Polling

See also: Nationwide opinion polling for the 1972 United States presidential election

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Richard Nixon (R)	George McGovern (D)	George Wallace (AI)	Other	Undecided	Margin
Election Results	November 7, 1972	60.67%	37.52%	-	1.81%	-	23.15
Harris	November 2–4, 1972	59%	35%	-	-	6%	24
Gallup	November 2-4, 1972	61%	35%	-	1%	3%	26
Harris	October 24–26, 1972	60%	32%	-	-	8%	28
Harris	October 17–19, 1972	59%	34%	-	-	7%	25
Gallup	October 13-16, 1972	59%	36%	-	-	5%	23
Gallup	Sep. 29-Oct. 9, 1972	60%	34%	-	1%	5%	26
Harris	October 3–5, 1972	60%	33%	-	-	7%	27
Gallup	September 22-25, 1972	61%	33%	-	1%	5%	28
Harris	September 19–21, 1972	59%	31%	-	-	10%	28
Harris	Aug. 30–Sep. 1, 1972	63%	29%	-	-	8%	34
Gallup	August 25-28, 1972	61%	36%	-	-	3%	25
Gallup	August 26-27, 1972	64%	30%	-	-	6%	34
August 21–23: Republican National Convention
Gallup	August 4-7, 1972	57%	31%	-	-	12%	26
Harris	August 2–3, 1972	57%	34%	-	-	9%	23
Gallup	July 14-17, 1972	56%	37%	-	-	7%	19
July 10–13: Democratic National Convention
Harris	July 1–6, 1972	55%	35%	-	-	10%	20
Gallup	June 16-19, 1972	45%	32%	18%	-	5%	13
		53%	37%	-	-	10%	16
Harris	June 7–10, 1972	45%	33%	17%	-	5%	12
		54%	38%	-	-	8%	16
Gallup	May 26-29, 1972	43%	30%	19%	-	8%	13
		53%	34%	-	-	13%	19
Harris	May 9–10, 1972	40%	35%	17%	-	8%	5
		48%	41%	-	-	11%	7
Gallup	Apr. 28-May 1, 1972	43%	35%	15%	-	7%	8
		49%	39%	-	-	12%	10
Gallup	April 21-24, 1972	45%	32%	16%	-	7%	13
Gallup	April 14-17, 1972	46%	31%	15%	-	8%	15
Harris	April 1–7, 1972	47%	29%	16%	-	8%	18
		54%	34%	-	-	12%	20
Harris	Feb. 28 – Mar. 7, 1972	53%	28%	13%	-	6%	25
		59%	32%	-	-	9%	27
Gallup	February 4-7, 1972	49%	34%	11%	-	6%	15
Harris	November, 1971	49%	31%	12%	-	8%	18
Harris	August 24-27, 1971	48%	33%	13%	-	6%	15
Harris	May, 1971	47%	33%	11%	-	9%	14
Harris	April, 1971	46%	36%	13%	-	5%	10
Harris	February, 1971	45%	34%	12%	-	9%	11

Campaign

Nixon during an August 1972 campaign stop

McGovern speaking at an October 1972 campaign rally

McGovern ran on a platform of immediately ending the Vietnam War and instituting a guaranteed minimum income for the nation's poor. His campaign was harmed by his views during the primaries, which alienated many powerful Democrats, the perception that his foreign policy was too extreme, and the Eagleton debacle. With McGovern's campaign weakened by these factors, with the Republicans portraying McGovern as a radical left-wing extremist, Nixon led in the polls by large margins throughout the entire campaign. With an enormous fundraising advantage and a comfortable lead in the polls, Nixon concentrated on large rallies and focused speeches to closed and select audiences, leaving much of the retail campaigning to surrogates like Vice President Agnew. Nixon did not try by design to extend his coattails to Republican congressional or gubernatorial candidates, preferring to pad his own margin of victory.

Results

Election results by county

  Richard Nixon

  George McGovern

Results by congressional district

Nixon's percentage of the popular vote was only marginally less than Lyndon B. Johnson's record in 1964, and his margin of victory was slightly larger. Nixon won a majority vote in 49 states, including McGovern's home state of South Dakota. Only Massachusetts and the District of Columbia voted for the challenger, resulting in an even more lopsided Electoral College tally. McGovern garnered only 37.5 percent of the national popular vote, the lowest share received by a Democratic Party nominee since John W. Davis won only 28.8 percent of the vote in 1924. The only major party candidate since 1972 to receive less than 40 percent of the vote was Republican incumbent President George H. W. Bush who won 37.4 percent of the vote in 1992, an election that, as in 1924, was impacted by a strong third-party vote. Nixon received the highest share of the popular vote for a Republican in history.

Although the McGovern campaign believed that its candidate had a better chance of defeating Nixon because of the new Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution that lowered the national voting age to 18 from 21, most of the youth vote went to Nixon. This was the first election in American history in which a Republican candidate carried every single Southern state, continuing the region's transformation from a Democratic bastion (Solid South) into a Republican stronghold as Arkansas was carried by a Republican presidential candidate for the first time in a century. By this time, all the Southern states, except Arkansas and Texas, had been carried by a Republican in either the previous election or that of 1964, although Republican candidates carried Texas in 1928, 1952, and 1956. As a result of this election, Massachusetts became the only state that Nixon did not carry in any of the three presidential elections in which he was a candidate. Notably, Nixon became the first Republican to ever win two terms in the White House without carrying Massachusetts at least once, and the same feat would later be duplicated by George W. Bush and Donald Trump, as they won both their first and second elections without winning Massachusetts. This presidential election was the first since 1808 in which New York did not have the largest number of electors in the Electoral College, having fallen to 41 electors vs. California's 45. Additionally, this remains the last one in which Minnesota was carried by the Republican candidate.

McGovern won a mere 130 counties, plus the District of Columbia and four county-equivalents in Alaska, easily the fewest counties won by any major-party presidential nominee since the advent of popular presidential elections, and only about a third of the previous lowest number, which had been recorded by Herbert Hoover in 1932. In nineteen states, McGovern failed to carry a single county; he carried a mere one county-equivalent in a further nine states, and just two counties in a further seven. In contrast to Walter Mondale's narrow 1984 win in Minnesota, McGovern comfortably won 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", "Don't Blame Me, I'm From Massachusetts", and "Massachusetts: The One And Only" were popular for a short time in Massachusetts.

Nixon managed to win 18% of the African American vote (Gerald Ford would get 16% in 1976). Until 2024, he was the only Republican in modern times to threaten the oldest extant Democratic stronghold of South Texas; this is also the most recent election in which the Republicans have won Dimmit County, Texas, the only time Republicans carried La Salle County between William McKinley in 1900 and Donald Trump in 2020, and one of only two occasions since Theodore Roosevelt in 1904 (Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952 also obtained a plurality) that Republicans have gained a majority in Presidio County. The 1972 election was also the most recent time several highly populous urban counties, including Cook in Illinois, Orleans in Louisiana, Hennepin in Minnesota, Cuyahoga in Ohio, Durham in North Carolina, Queens in New York, and Prince George's in Maryland, have voted Republican.

The Wallace vote had been crucial to Nixon being able to sweep the states that had narrowly held out against him in 1968 (Maryland, Texas, and West Virginia), as well as the states Wallace won himself (Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi). 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 presidential candidate to win a significant number of electoral votes in three presidential elections since the ratification of that Amendment, only Trump has done the same. As of 2024, Nixon was the seventh of eight presidential nominees to win a significant number of electoral votes in at least three elections, the others being Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, Grover Cleveland, William Jennings Bryan, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Trump. 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 second largest number of electoral votes received by any presidential candidate (after Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1,876 total electoral votes).

Electoral results

Presidential candidate	Party	Home state	Popular vote		Electoral vote	Running mate
			Count	Percentage		Vice-presidential candidate	Home state	Electoral vote
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	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	Theodora Nathan	Oregon	1
Other			81,575	0.10%	—	Other		—
Total			77,744,030	100%	538			538
Needed to win					270			270

John Hospers received one faithless electoral vote from Virginia.

Popular vote Nixon   60.67% McGovern   37.52% Schmitz   1.42% Others   0.39%

Electoral vote Nixon   96.65% McGovern   3.16% Hospers   0.19%

• 
  Results by county, shaded according to winning candidate's percentage of the vote

Results by state

Legend

Legend

States/districts won by Nixon/Agnew
States/districts won by McGovern/Shriver
†	At-large results (Maine used the Congressional District Method)

Outcomes of the 1972 United States presidential election by state

		Richard Nixon Republican			George McGovern Democratic			John Schmitz American Independent			John Hospers Libertarian			Margin		State Total
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.

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):

1. Minnesota, 5.51% (95,923 votes)
2. Rhode Island, 6.19% (25,738 votes)
3. South Dakota, 8.63% (26,531 votes)
4. Massachusetts, 8.97% (220,462 votes)
5. Wisconsin, 9.67% (179,256 votes)

Tipping point states:

1. Ohio, 21.56% (882,938 votes) (tipping point for a Nixon victory)
2. Maine-1, 22.85% (50,360 votes) (tipping point for a McGovern victory)

Statistics

Counties with highest percentage of the vote (Republican)

1. Dade County, Georgia 93.45%
2. Glascock County, Georgia 93.38%
3. George County, Mississippi 92.90%
4. Holmes County, Florida 92.51%
5. Smith County, Mississippi 92.35%

Counties with highest percentage of the vote (Democratic)

1. Duval County, Texas 85.68%
2. Washington, D. C. 78.10%
3. Shannon County, South Dakota 77.34%
4. Greene County, Alabama 68.32%
5. Charles City County, Virginia 67.84%

Counties with highest percentage of the vote (Other)

1. Jefferson County, Idaho 27.51%
2. Lemhi County, Idaho 19.77%
3. Fremont County, Idaho 19.32%
4. Bonneville County, Idaho 18.97%
5. Madison County, Idaho 17.04%

Voter demographics

The 1972 presidential vote by demographic subgroup
	McGovern	Nixon
Gender
Men	37	63
Women	38	62
Age
Under 30	48	52
30-49	33	67
50 or Older	36	64
Race
White	32	68
Non-White	87	13
Religion
Protestant	30	70
Catholic	48	52
Education
College	37	63
High School	34	66
Grade School	49	51
Occupation
Business	31	69
White Collar	36	64
Manual	43	57
Party ID
Republican	5	95
Democrat	67	33
Independent	31	69
Region
East	42	58
Midwest	40	60
South	29	71
West	41	59
Union Status
Union Family	46	54

Nixon won 36 percent of the Democratic vote, according to an exit poll conducted for CBS News by George Fine Research, Inc. This represents more than twice the percentage of voters who typically defect from their party in presidential elections. Nixon also became the first Republican presidential candidate in American history to win the Roman Catholic vote (53–46), and the first in recent history to win the blue-collar vote, which he won by a 5-to-4 margin. McGovern narrowly won the union vote (50–48), although this difference was within the survey's margin of error of 2 percentage points. McGovern also narrowly won the youth vote (i. e. those aged 18 to 24) 52–46, a narrower margin than many of his strategists had predicted. This was the first presidential election held after the ratification of the 26th Amendment, lowering the minimum voting age to 18. Early on, the McGovern campaign also significantly over-estimated the number of young people who would vote in the election; they predicted that 18 million would have voted in total but exit polls indicate that the actual number was about 12 million. McGovern comfortably won among both African-American and Jewish voters but by somewhat smaller margins than usual for a Democratic candidate. McGovern won the African American vote by 87% to Nixon's 13%.

Aftermath

Main article: Watergate scandal

On June 17, 1972, five months before election day, five men broke into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate hotel in Washington, D. C.; the resulting investigation led to the revelation of attempted cover-ups of the break-in within the Nixon administration. What became known as the Watergate scandal eroded President Nixon's public and political support in his second term, and he resigned on August 9, 1974, in the face of probable impeachment by the House of Representatives and removal from office by the Senate. 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. Many companies complied, including Northrop Grumman, 3M, American Airlines, and Braniff Airlines. By 1976, prosecutors had convicted 18 American corporations of contributing illegally to Nixon's campaign. 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".

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.

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". Presidential Studies Quarterly. 39 (4): 647–676. doi:10.1111/j.1741-5705.2009.03731.x.
• Graebner, Norman A. (1973). "Presidential Politics in a Divided America: 1972". Australian Journal of Politics and History. 19 (1): 28–47. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8497.1973.tb00722.x.
• Hofstetter, C. Richard; Zukin, Cliff (1979). "TV Network News and Advertising in the Nixon and McGovern Campaigns". Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly. 56 (1): 106–152. doi:10.1177/107769907905600117. 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". Journal of American Studies. 7 (1): 1–15. doi:10.1017/S0021875800012585. 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.
• White, Theodore H. (1973). The Making of the President, 1972. New York: Atheneum. 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