1848 United States presidential election in Massachusetts

Main article: 1848 United States presidential election

1848 United States presidential election in Massachusetts

←  1844 November 7, 1848 1852  →
Turnout	64.6% [1] 0.8 pp
Nominee Zachary Taylor Martin Van Buren Lewis Cass Party Whig Free Soil Democratic Home state Louisiana New York Michigan Running mate Millard Fillmore Charles F. Adams William O. Butler Electoral vote 12 0 0 Popular vote 61,072 38,333 35,281 Percentage 45.32% 28.45% 26.18%
County Results Taylor   40–50%   50–60%   60–70% Van Buren   40–50%
President before election James K. Polk Democratic Elected President Zachary Taylor Whig

The 1848 United States presidential election in Massachusetts took place on November 7, 1848, as part of the 1848 United States presidential election. Voters chose 12 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.

Massachusetts voted for the Whig candidate, Zachary Taylor, over Democratic candidate Lewis Cass and Free Soil candidate former president Martin Van Buren. Taylor won the state by a margin of 19.1%.

With 28.45% of the popular vote, Massachusetts would prove to by Van Buren's second strongest state in the country after neighboring Vermont. ^[2]

Because no candidate received 50% of the vote, the choice of electors formally reverted to the state legislature, in accordance with the provisions of Massachusetts state law of the time. Ultimately this did not change the outcome since the Whigs controlled the legislature, which duly confirmed the choice of electors pledged to the clear plurality winner. Even if the Massachusetts legislature had chosen someone else, Taylor would have still had enough electoral votes (151, five more than a bare majority) to win the presidency.

Results

1848 United States presidential election in Massachusetts [3]
Party		Candidate	Running mate	Popular vote		Electoral vote
				Count	%	Count	%
	Whig	Zachary Taylor of Louisiana	Millard Fillmore of New York	61,072	45.32%	12	100.00%
	Free Soil	Martin Van Buren of New York	Charles Francis Adams, Sr. of Massachusetts	38,333	28.45%	0	0.00%
	Democratic	Lewis Cass of Michigan	William O. Butler of Kentucky	35,281	26.18%	0	0.00%
	N/A	Others	Others	62	0.05%	0	0.00%
Total				134,748	100.00%	12	100.00%

See also

• United States presidential elections in Massachusetts

References

1. Bicentennial Edition: Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970, part 2, p. 1072.
2. "1848 Presidential Election Statistics". Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
3. "1848 Presidential General Election Results - Massachusetts". U.S. Election Atlas. Retrieved December 23, 2013.