1964 United States presidential election in Idaho

The 1964 United States presidential election in Idaho took place on November 3, 1964, as part of the 1964 United States presidential election, which was held throughout all 50 states and D.C. Voters chose four representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

1964 United States presidential election in Idaho

November 3, 1964 (1964-11-03)
 
Nominee Lyndon B. Johnson Barry Goldwater
Party Democratic Republican
Home state Texas Arizona
Running mate Hubert Humphrey William E. Miller
Electoral vote 4 0
Popular vote 148,920 143,577
Percentage 50.92% 49.08%

County Results

President before election

Lyndon B. Johnson
Democratic

President-elect

Lyndon B. Johnson
Democratic

Idaho was one of 44 states carried in a national landslide by incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson. However, it was the weakest state that Johnson carried in the election. Johnson carried the state by a margin of 5,363 votes, or 1.83%, making Idaho’s vote about 20.75 percent more Republican than the national average. Johnson’s strongest performances were in Clearwater and Lewis counties where he took over 76% of the vote. Goldwater’s strongest performance was Jerome County, taking 63% of the vote. While Johnson carried slightly over half of the state’s 44 counties, Goldwater carried the more populated counties such as Ada, Bonneville, Canyon and Twin Falls, thus keeping the vote close.

This is the last presidential election where Idaho was carried by a Democrat, and had Goldwater carried Idaho, the Gem State would have had the outright longest streak of consecutive Republican wins, last voting Democratic in 1948. Such a run of success for one party has been exceeded only in the Deep South and by the Republicans in Vermont between 1856 and 1960. Although Goldwater lost, this election solidified Idaho as a stronghold of the Republican Party, for the state trended 13.02 percentage points Republican relative to the national swing – the smallest Democratic swing outside the old Confederacy. In eight counties,[lower-alpha 1] Goldwater gained a higher proportion of the vote than Richard Nixon had four years earlier – a result observed in only nine other counties outside antebellum slave states.[1] Apart from massively Catholic Emmons County, North Dakota, Camas and Custer were the solitary counties outside antebellum slave states to vote for Kennedy in 1960 and Goldwater in 1964.[1]

No Democrat since Johnson has been able to get forty percent of Idaho’s popular vote, whilst the only Republicans to fail to pass fifty-five percent have been George H. W. Bush in 1992 and Bob Dole in 1996,[2][3] when strong third-party candidacies from Ross Perot distorted results.

At a more local level, the only counties in Idaho to have ever given a Democrat majority or plurality since 1968 have been Teton in the far east, Blaine in the centre of the state, and the seven northern counties of, clockwise from north, Bonner, Shoshone, Clearwater, Lewis, Nez Perce, Latah, and Benewah Counties.[4] Of these, Bonner County was carried only by a narrow Bill Clinton plurality in 1992 as a result of strong support for Ross Perot cutting into the Republican vote[5] whilst Benewah County were carried only by a narrow Carter majority in 1976[6] and Bill Clinton plurality in 1992. All forty-four Idaho counties voted Republican in 1972, 1980 and 1984, only Blaine County voted for Gore in 2000 and Kerry in 2004, and since then only Latah and Teton Counties have been remotely competitive electorally. As a result, this remains the last election in which Kootenai County, Bannock County, Elmore County, Gem County, Idaho County, Fremont County, Boundary County, Washington County, Valley County, Power County, Boise County, Caribou County, Bear Lake County, Adams County, and Butte County voted for a Democratic presidential candidate.[7]

Results

Electoral results
Presidential candidate Party Home state Popular vote Electoral
vote
Running mate
Count Percentage Vice-presidential candidate Home state Electoral vote
Lyndon B. Johnson Democratic Texas 148,920 50.92% 4 Hubert Humphrey Minnesota 4
Barry Goldwater Republican Arizona 143,557 49.08% 0 William E. Miller New York 0
Total 292,477 100% 4 4
Needed to win 270 270

Results by county

County Lyndon Baines Johnson
Democratic
Barry Morris Goldwater
Republican
Margin Total votes cast
# % # % # %
Ada 19,639 43.60% 25,404 56.40% -5,765 -12.80% 45,043
Adams 750 52.12% 689 47.88% 61 4.24% 1,439
Bannock 13,483 63.28% 7,825 36.72% 5,658 26.55% 21,308
Bear Lake 1,857 56.86% 1,409 43.14% 448 13.72% 3,266
Benewah 1,796 64.67% 981 35.33% 815 29.35% 2,777
Bingham 5,231 49.37% 5,364 50.63% -133 -1.26% 10,595
Blaine 1,293 52.69% 1,161 47.31% 132 5.38% 2,454
Boise 450 52.08% 414 47.92% 36 4.17% 864
Bonner 4,328 59.26% 2,975 40.74% 1,353 18.53% 7,303
Bonneville 9,637 47.30% 10,736 52.70% -1,099 -5.39% 20,373
Boundary 1,418 57.11% 1,065 42.89% 353 14.22% 2,483
Butte 848 56.65% 649 43.35% 199 13.29% 1,497
Camas 258 44.95% 316 55.05% -58 -10.10% 574
Canyon 10,601 44.05% 13,466 55.95% -2,865 -11.90% 24,067
Caribou 1,422 52.18% 1,303 47.82% 119 4.37% 2,725
Cassia 2,608 39.41% 4,009 60.59% -1,401 -21.17% 6,617
Clark 186 41.52% 262 58.48% -76 -16.96% 448
Clearwater 2,446 76.13% 767 23.87% 1,679 52.26% 3,213
Custer 714 49.79% 720 50.21% -6 -0.42% 1,434
Elmore 2,310 55.44% 1,857 44.56% 453 10.87% 4,167
Franklin 1,583 39.74% 2,400 60.26% -817 -20.51% 3,983
Fremont 1,970 50.32% 1,945 49.68% 25 0.64% 3,915
Gem 2,328 54.05% 1,979 45.95% 349 8.10% 4,307
Gooding 1,848 42.24% 2,527 57.76% -679 -15.52% 4,375
Idaho 3,188 61.57% 1,990 38.43% 1,198 23.14% 5,178
Jefferson 2,061 42.93% 2,740 57.07% -679 -14.14% 4,801
Jerome 1,828 37.00% 3,113 63.00% -1,285 -26.01% 4,941
Kootenai 8,215 57.40% 6,096 42.60% 2,119 14.81% 14,311
Latah 5,249 60.17% 3,475 39.83% 1,774 20.33% 8,724
Lemhi 1,067 41.63% 1,496 58.37% -429 -16.74% 2,563
Lewis 1,557 76.17% 487 23.83% 1,070 52.35% 2,044
Lincoln 617 38.90% 969 61.10% -352 -22.19% 1,586
Madison 1,949 48.12% 2,101 51.88% -152 -3.75% 4,050
Minidoka 2,827 47.61% 3,111 52.39% -284 -4.78% 5,938
Nez Perce 9,245 70.27% 3,912 29.73% 5,333 40.53% 13,157
Oneida 768 40.87% 1,111 59.13% -343 -18.25% 1,879
Owyhee 1,168 48.99% 1,216 51.01% -48 -2.01% 2,384
Payette 2,508 47.57% 2,764 52.43% -256 -4.86% 5,272
Power 1,161 54.58% 966 45.42% 195 9.17% 2,127
Shoshone 5,194 64.30% 2,884 35.70% 2,310 28.60% 8,078
Teton 598 46.98% 675 53.02% -77 -6.05% 1,273
Twin Falls 7,638 39.87% 11,518 60.13% -3,880 -20.25% 19,156
Valley 1,126 53.47% 980 46.53% 146 6.93% 2,106
Washington 1,952 53.01% 1,730 46.99% 222 6.03% 3,682
Totals148,92050.92%143,55749.08%5,3631.83%292,477

Notes

  1. Idaho counties giving a higher proportion of their vote to Goldwater than Nixon were Camas, Lemhi, Custer, Lincoln, Jefferson, Jerome, Butte and Gooding.

References

  1. Menendez, Albert J.; The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004, p. 87 ISBN 0786422173
  2. "1964 Presidential General Election Results - Idaho". Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved 2014-07-02.
  3. "1964 Presidential General Election Data Graphs – Idaho". Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved 2014-07-02.
  4. Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016
  5. 1992 Presidential General Election Data Graphs – Idaho by County
  6. 1976 Presidential General Election Data Graphs – Idaho by County
  7. Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016
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