1972 United States presidential election in Oklahoma

The 1972 United States presidential election in Oklahoma was held on November 7, 1972 as part of the 1972 United States presidential election. Voters chose eight electors, or representatives to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

1972 United States presidential election in Oklahoma

November 7, 1972
 
Nominee Richard Nixon George McGovern
Party Republican Democratic
Home state California South Dakota
Running mate Spiro Agnew Sargent Shriver
Electoral vote 8 0
Popular vote 759,025 247,147
Percentage 73.7% 24.0%

County Results
Nixon
  60-70%
  70-80%
  80-90%


President before election

Richard Nixon
Republican

Elected President

Richard Nixon
Republican

Oklahoma voted in a landslide for incumbent Republican President Richard Nixon over his Democratic challenger George McGovern. Nixon's winning margin of 49.70 percentage points made Oklahoma his third-strongest state, behind Mississippi and Georgia,[1] and 26.55 percentage points more Republican than the nation at-large. Although in the twenty-first century Oklahoma has rivaled Wyoming, Utah, Idaho and increasingly West Virginia as the most Republican state in the nation, no presidential candidate in Oklahoma has ever equaled Nixon's margin of victory. Indeed, in the eleven presidential elections since this one, only twice has any state been carried by a larger percentage margin – both by Ronald Reagan in Utah, as part of the 1980 and 1984 elections.

Nixon carried with over sixty percent of the vote all seventy-seven counties in the state, four years after he had won the Sooner State despite finishing behind both Democrat Hubert Humphrey and American Independent George Wallace in Love, McCurtain and Pushmataha Counties.[2] American Independent John G. Schmitz was the only other candidate on the ballot, and he received 2.30 percent of the vote, although managing over eleven percent in the Panhandle county of Cimmaron. Nixon's feat of winning every county in Oklahoma would not be achieved by a Republican again until George W. Bush in 2004. Since that election, the Republicans have carried every county by wide margins.

In archconservative Oklahoma, McGovern was uniformly viewed as a left-wing extremist because of his support for busing and civil rights, plus his opposition to the Vietnam War, support for granting amnesty to draft dodgers[3] and support for a thousand-dollar giveaway to each American as a solution to poverty.[4] Many, especially Republican campaigners, also believed McGovern would legalise abortion and illicit drugs if he were elected[5] – despite the fact that his running mate Sargent Shriver was firmly pro-life.

Consequently, even the most loyal Southern Democrats from the southeastern part of the state almost completely deserted their traditional party for Nixon: Bryan, Choctaw, Coal, Johnston, and the above-mention Love and McCurtain Counties deserted their traditional Democratic Party for the first time ever.[6] Nixon also almost completely captured the twenty percent of Oklahoman voters who had supported Wallace in 1968:[7] exit polls suggested he won them over McGovern by a ratio of ten to one, and in the two Wallace counties of Pushmataha and Atoka Nixon totalled over seventy percent of the vote vis-à-vis less than thirty in 1968.

Results

1972 United States presidential election in Oklahoma[8]
Party Candidate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Republican Richard Nixon (incumbent) 759,025 73,70% 8
Democratic George McGovern 247,147 24.00% 0
American Independent John G. Schmitz 23,728 2.30% 0
Totals 1,029,900 100.00% 9
Voter turnout

Results by county

Richard Milhous Nixon
Republican
George Stanley McGovern
Democratic
John George Schmitz
American Independent
Margin Total votes cast
County # % # % # % # %
Adair 4,720 73.12% 1,601 24.80% 134 2.08% 3,119 48.32% 6,455
Alfalfa 3,208 81.48% 641 16.28% 88 2.24% 2,567 65.20% 3,937
Atoka 2,905 72.86% 993 24.91% 89 2.23% 1,912 47.96% 3,987
Beaver 2,562 80.41% 522 16.38% 102 3.20% 2,040 64.03% 3,186
Beckham 4,472 71.72% 1,608 25.79% 155 2.49% 2,864 45.93% 6,235
Blaine 3,958 77.73% 963 18.91% 171 3.36% 2,995 58.82% 5,092
Bryan 5,397 61.91% 3,144 36.06% 177 2.03% 2,253 25.84% 8,718
Caddo 7,683 70.41% 2,921 26.77% 308 2.82% 4,762 43.64% 10,912
Canadian 11,400 78.28% 2,751 18.89% 413 2.84% 8,649 59.39% 14,564
Carter 9,368 66.41% 4,577 32.45% 161 1.14% 4,791 33.96% 14,106
Cherokee 7,080 69.37% 2,899 28.40% 227 2.22% 4,181 40.97% 10,206
Choctaw 3,399 64.40% 1,798 34.07% 81 1.53% 1,601 30.33% 5,278
Cimarron 1,350 71.62% 323 17.14% 212 11.25% 1,027 54.48% 1,885
Cleveland 25,777 68.71% 11,126 29.66% 615 1.64% 14,651 39.05% 37,518
Coal 1,461 67.05% 680 31.21% 38 1.74% 781 35.84% 2,179
Comanche 19,759 79.85% 4,559 18.42% 427 1.73% 15,200 61.43% 24,745
Cotton 2,050 70.23% 798 27.34% 71 2.43% 1,252 42.89% 2,919
Craig 4,163 70.36% 1,642 27.75% 112 1.89% 2,521 42.61% 5,917
Creek 12,396 75.11% 3,705 22.45% 402 2.44% 8,691 52.66% 16,503
Custer 7,267 74.30% 2,298 23.50% 215 2.20% 4,969 50.81% 9,780
Delaware 5,476 70.30% 2,135 27.41% 178 2.29% 3,341 42.89% 7,789
Dewey 2,106 74.79% 626 22.23% 84 2.98% 1,480 52.56% 2,816
Ellis 2,059 77.76% 473 17.86% 116 4.38% 1,586 59.89% 2,648
Garfield 19,348 79.07% 4,557 18.62% 564 2.30% 14,791 60.45% 24,469
Garvin 7,245 70.72% 2,685 26.21% 315 3.07% 4,560 44.51% 10,245
Grady 7,762 67.50% 3,440 29.92% 297 2.58% 4,322 37.59% 11,499
Grant 2,829 75.34% 805 21.44% 121 3.22% 2,024 53.90% 3,755
Greer 2,154 66.40% 1,004 30.95% 86 2.65% 1,150 35.45% 3,244
Harmon 1,319 68.38% 568 29.45% 42 2.18% 751 38.93% 1,929
Harper 1,976 79.84% 385 15.56% 114 4.61% 1,591 64.28% 2,475
Haskell 2,815 63.12% 1,408 31.57% 237 5.31% 1,407 31.55% 4,460
Hughes 3,497 64.86% 1,787 33.14% 108 2.00% 1,710 31.71% 5,392
Jackson 5,519 71.61% 2,054 26.65% 134 1.74% 3,465 44.96% 7,707
Jefferson 1,709 62.12% 969 35.22% 73 2.65% 740 26.90% 2,751
Johnston 2,205 67.72% 983 30.19% 68 2.09% 1,222 37.53% 3,256
Kay 17,244 78.44% 4,246 19.31% 494 2.25% 12,998 59.12% 21,984
Kingfisher 4,861 81.90% 912 15.37% 162 2.73% 3,949 66.54% 5,935
Kiowa 3,711 69.81% 1,495 28.12% 110 2.07% 2,216 41.69% 5,316
Latimer 2,520 64.80% 1,239 31.86% 130 3.34% 1,281 32.94% 3,889
Le Flore 7,932 67.45% 3,433 29.19% 394 3.35% 4,499 38.26% 11,759
Lincoln 6,512 74.98% 1,919 22.10% 254 2.92% 4,593 52.88% 8,685
Logan 6,543 68.85% 2,760 29.04% 200 2.10% 3,783 39.81% 9,503
Love 1,407 66.75% 671 31.83% 30 1.42% 736 34.91% 2,108
McClain 4,241 73.16% 1,350 23.29% 206 3.55% 2,891 49.87% 5,797
McCurtain 6,441 70.20% 2,568 27.99% 166 1.81% 3,873 42.21% 9,175
McIntosh 3,216 63.89% 1,686 33.49% 132 2.62% 1,530 30.39% 5,034
Major 3,203 83.89% 512 13.41% 103 2.70% 2,691 70.48% 3,818
Marshall 2,273 65.37% 1,113 32.01% 91 2.62% 1,160 33.36% 3,477
Mayes 7,535 72.08% 2,656 25.41% 263 2.52% 4,879 46.67% 10,454
Murray 2,983 68.23% 1,294 29.60% 95 2.17% 1,689 38.63% 4,372
Muskogee 15,161 65.65% 7,380 31.96% 551 2.39% 7,781 33.70% 23,092
Noble 4,085 78.38% 999 19.17% 128 2.46% 3,086 59.21% 5,212
Nowata 3,293 72.61% 1,096 24.17% 146 3.22% 2,197 48.45% 4,535
Okfuskee 2,862 66.73% 1,328 30.96% 99 2.31% 1,534 35.77% 4,289
Oklahoma 156,437 75.24% 46,986 22.60% 4,502 2.17% 109,451 52.64% 207,925
Okmulgee 8,706 63.82% 4,494 32.94% 442 3.24% 4,212 30.88% 13,642
Osage 9,288 73.77% 2,968 23.57% 335 2.66% 6,320 50.19% 12,591
Ottawa 8,348 68.63% 3,657 30.07% 158 1.30% 4,691 38.57% 12,163
Pawnee 4,280 77.30% 1,135 20.50% 122 2.20% 3,145 56.80% 5,537
Payne 17,019 73.77% 5,644 24.46% 407 1.76% 11,375 49.31% 23,070
Pittsburg 9,989 66.42% 4,748 31.57% 303 2.01% 5,241 34.85% 15,040
Pontotoc 8,762 72.04% 3,160 25.98% 240 1.97% 5,602 46.06% 12,162
Pottawatomie 13,308 71.30% 4,822 25.84% 534 2.86% 8,486 45.47% 18,664
Pushmataha 2,456 68.24% 1,016 28.23% 127 3.53% 1,440 40.01% 3,599
Roger Mills 1,696 78.16% 420 19.35% 54 2.49% 1,276 58.80% 2,170
Rogers 9,697 76.19% 2,607 20.48% 424 3.33% 7,090 55.70% 12,728
Seminole 6,879 70.02% 2,746 27.95% 199 2.03% 4,133 42.07% 9,824
Sequoyah 6,842 71.64% 2,519 26.37% 190 1.99% 4,323 45.26% 9,551
Stephens 10,309 71.61% 3,623 25.17% 464 3.22% 6,686 46.44% 14,396
Texas 5,726 82.54% 924 13.32% 287 4.14% 4,802 69.22% 6,937
Tillman 3,331 70.92% 1,256 26.74% 110 2.34% 2,075 44.18% 4,697
Tulsa 125,278 77.75% 32,779 20.34% 3,069 1.90% 92,499 57.41% 161,126
Wagoner 6,569 72.13% 2,257 24.78% 281 3.09% 4,312 47.35% 9,107
Washington 16,347 79.74% 3,658 17.84% 495 2.41% 12,689 61.90% 20,500
Washita 3,578 71.45% 1,305 26.06% 125 2.50% 2,273 45.39% 5,008
Woods 4,413 76.23% 1,234 21.32% 142 2.45% 3,179 54.91% 5,789
Woodward 5,350 80.05% 1,104 16.52% 229 3.43% 4,246 63.53% 6,683
Totals759,02573.70%247,14724.00%23,7282.30%511,87849.70%1,029,900

References

  1. "1972 Presidential Election Statistics". Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved 2018-03-05.
  2. Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections; 1968 Presidential General Election Results – Oklahoma
  3. Perry, James Moorhead; Us and Them: How the Press Covered the 1972 Election, p. 136 ISBN 0517505525
  4. Grantham, Dewey W.; The Life and Death of the Solid South: A Political History, p. 179 ISBN 0813148723
  5. Davis, Lanny; Scandal: How "Gotcha" Politics Is Destroying America, pp. 65-66 ISBN 1466892803
  6. Menendez Albert J.; The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, pp. 99, 282-283 ISBN 0786422173
  7. See Judis, John B. and Teixeira, Ruy; The Emerging Democratic Majority, p. 19 ISBN 0743254783
  8. "1972 Presidential General Election Results – Oklahoma". Dave Leip’s U.S. Election Atlas. Retrieved 2016-02-09.
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