United States presidential election in Idaho, 1972

United States presidential election in Idaho, 1972

November 7, 1972[1]
Nominee Richard Nixon George McGovern John G. Schmitz Party Republican Democratic American Independent Home state California South Dakota California Running mate Spiro Agnew Sargent Shriver Thomas J. Anderson Electoral vote 4 0 0 Popular vote 199,384 80,826 28,869 Percentage 64.2% 26.0% 9.3%
President before election Richard Nixon Republican Elected President Richard Nixon Republican

Elections in Idaho
Federal government Presidential elections 1892 1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 Presidential primaries Democratic Caucuses 2008 Republican Primaries 2008 2012 U.S. Senate elections 1980 1986 1990 1992 1996 1998 2002 2004 2008 2010 2014 U.S. House elections 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014
State government General elections 2014 Gubernatorial elections 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 State legislature elections 2006
Ballot measures Gubernatorial elections Amendment 2 Proposition 2

The 1972 United States presidential election in Idaho took place on November 7, 1972, as part of the 1972 United States presidential election. Idaho voters chose four^[2] representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.

Idaho was won by incumbent President Richard Nixon (R–California), with 64.2 percent of the popular vote, against George McGovern (D–South Dakota), with 26.0 percent of the popular vote.^[3][4]

In a state that would reflect McGovern’s national results,^[5][6] the Democratic nominee did not win a single county in Idaho. In fact, John G. Schmitz, running under the “American Independent” banner as a remnant of George Wallace’s 1968 campaign, ran second ahead of McGovern in Fremont, Jefferson, Lemhi and Madison Counties.^[7] Although due to the salience of the Civil Rights issue there had occurred numerous cases of unpledged and “Dixiecrat” candidates finishing second and even first in Deep Southern counties, and a few in other antebellum slave states, Schmitz became the first third-party candidate to finish even second in any non-Southern county since 1936 when William Lemke finished ahead of Alf Landon in the North Dakota counties of Burke, Divide, Mountrail, Towner and Williams.^[8]

Nixon was the first Republican to sweep all Idaho’s counties since Warren G. Harding in 1920, the first to carry Clearwater and Lewis Counties since Herbert Hoover in 1928, whilst the previous occasion the Republicans had won adjacent Nez Perce County was Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952.^[9]

Results

Results by county

References

State Results of the 1972 U.S. presidential election
Candidates	George McGovern Richard Nixon Full list
General articles	Election timeline Democratic primaries Republican primaries Republican Convention Democratic Convention Debates
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Other 1972 elections	House Senate Gubernatorial