1900 United States presidential election in Wisconsin

Main article: 1900 United States presidential election

1900 United States presidential election in Wisconsin

←  1896 November 6, 1900 1904  →

Nominee William McKinley William Jennings Bryan Party Republican Democratic Home state Ohio Nebraska Running mate Theodore Roosevelt Adlai Stevenson I Electoral vote 12 0 Popular vote 265,760 159,163 Percentage 60.06% 35.97%

County Results McKinley   40-50%   50-60%   60-70%   70-80%   80-90% Bryan   50-60%

President before election William McKinley Republican Elected President William McKinley Republican

The 1900 United States presidential election in Wisconsin was held on November 6, 1900 as part of the 1900 United States presidential election. State voters chose 12 electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Wisconsin during the Third Party System was a Republican-leaning but competitive state whereby historically anti-Civil War German Catholic counties stood opposed to highly pro-war and firmly Republican Yankee areas. ^[1] However, following the Populist movement, whose inflationary monetary policies were opposed by almost all urban classes and viewed as dangerously radical by rural German Catholics, ^[2] Wisconsin’s upper classes, along with the majority of workers who followed them, completely fled from William Jennings Bryan’s agrarian and free silver sympathies. ^[3] Although in 1892 Grover Cleveland had become the first Democrat to carry the state since the formation of the Republican Party, in 1896 Wisconsin would prove Republican William McKinley’s strongest state outside the Northeast, as Bryan’s free silver monetary policy gained little support from dairy farmers who were less affected by drought or debt than wheat growers. ^[4]

Wisconsin would henceforth become almost a one-party polity dominated by the Republican Party. ^[5] The Democratic Party became entirely uncompetitive outside the previously anti-Yankee areas adjoining Lake Michigan in the eastern part of the state. In response to Democratic strength weakening severely after 1894, however, challenges within the state Republican Party from Robert M. La Follette would emerge rapidly, with the progressive reformer being elected Governor coincident with the presidential election. ^[6]

Despite McKinley’s large win in 1896, Wisconsin was considered doubtful at the beginning of the 1900 campaign. ^[7] However, by the middle of October expert opinion suggested strongly that McKinley would carry the state, and that the state’s Democrats were abandoning nominee William Jennings Bryan for the second consecutive election. ^[8] This was confirmed by polls just before Election Day, ^[9] and as it turned out McKinley essentially repeated his three-to-two success of 1896, winning by 24,09 points and carrying all but four counties.

Bryan had previous lost Wisconsin to McKinley four years earlier and would later lose the state again in 1908 to William Howard Taft.

Results

1900 United States presidential election in Wisconsin [10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Republican	William McKinley (incumbent)	265,760	60.06%	12
	Democratic	William Jennings Bryan	159,163	35.97%	0
	Prohibition	John G. Woolley	10,027	2.27%	0
	Social Democratic	Eugene V. Debs	7,048	1.59%	0
	Socialist Labor	Joseph F. Maloney	503	0.11%	0
Totals			442,501	100.0%	12

Results by county

1900 United States presidential election in Wisconsin by county ^[11]

County	William McKinley Republican		William Jennings Bryan Democratic		John Granville Woolley Prohibition		Eugene Victor Debs Social Democratic		Joseph Francis Maloney Socialist Labor		Margin		Total votes cast
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
Adams	1,513	77.47%	409	20.94%	29	1.48%	2	0.10%	0	0.00%	1,104	56.53%	1,953
Ashland	3,034	63.97%	1,557	32.83%	103	2.17%	42	0.89%	7	0.15%	1,477	31.14%	4,743
Barron	2,950	72.77%	943	23.26%	158	3.90%	3	0.07%	0	0.00%	2,007	49.51%	4,054
Bayfield	2,428	76.93%	632	20.03%	80	2.53%	8	0.25%	8	0.25%	1,796	56.91%	3,156
Brown	4,934	56.80%	3,588	41.30%	133	1.53%	27	0.31%	5	0.06%	1,346	15.49%	8,687
Buffalo	2,091	62.40%	1,205	35.96%	55	1.64%	0	0.00%	0	0.00%	886	26.44%	3,351
Burnett	1,112	80.23%	218	15.73%	48	3.46%	2	0.14%	6	0.43%	894	64.50%	1,386
Calumet	1,631	45.11%	1,910	52.82%	54	1.49%	21	0.58%	0	0.00%	-279	-7.72%	3,616
Chippewa	4,215	61.88%	2,446	35.91%	140	2.06%	9	0.13%	2	0.03%	1,769	25.97%	6,812
Clark	3,864	74.78%	1,157	22.39%	124	2.40%	15	0.29%	7	0.14%	2,707	52.39%	5,167
Columbia	4,763	65.71%	2,181	30.09%	282	3.89%	21	0.29%	2	0.03%	2,582	35.62%	7,249
Crawford	2,333	62.53%	1,353	36.26%	44	1.18%	0	0.00%	1	0.03%	980	26.27%	3,731
Dane	9,396	58.41%	6,129	38.10%	512	3.18%	46	0.29%	4	0.02%	3,267	20.31%	16,087
Dodge	4,780	44.35%	5,813	53.93%	177	1.64%	8	0.07%	0	0.00%	-1,033	-9.58%	10,778
Door	2,362	76.29%	674	21.77%	57	1.84%	2	0.06%	1	0.03%	1,688	54.52%	3,096
Douglas	4,450	63.85%	2,187	31.38%	178	2.55%	133	1.91%	22	0.32%	2,263	32.47%	6,970
Dunn	3,046	70.79%	1,110	25.80%	144	3.35%	3	0.07%	0	0.00%	1,936	44.99%	4,303
Eau Claire	4,378	66.44%	1,967	29.85%	181	2.75%	61	0.93%	2	0.03%	2,411	36.59%	6,589
Florence	514	79.57%	110	17.03%	17	2.63%	3	0.46%	2	0.31%	404	62.54%	646
Fond du Lac	6,258	53.82%	5,140	44.20%	210	1.81%	19	0.16%	1	0.01%	1,118	9.61%	11,628
Forest	378	76.83%	95	19.31%	18	3.66%	1	0.20%	0	0.00%	283	57.52%	492
Grant	5,609	61.15%	3,254	35.48%	284	3.10%	22	0.24%	3	0.03%	2,355	25.68%	9,172
Green	2,996	60.21%	1,776	35.69%	164	3.30%	40	0.80%	0	0.00%	1,220	24.52%	4,976
Green Lake	2,081	56.41%	1,522	41.26%	81	2.20%	4	0.11%	1	0.03%	559	15.15%	3,689
Iowa	3,270	62.51%	1,743	33.32%	203	3.88%	15	0.29%	0	0.00%	1,527	29.19%	5,231
Iron	1,318	76.81%	356	20.75%	38	2.21%	3	0.17%	1	0.06%	962	56.06%	1,716
Jackson	2,639	77.73%	651	19.18%	103	3.03%	2	0.06%	0	0.00%	1,988	58.56%	3,395
Jefferson	3,729	46.25%	4,127	51.18%	199	2.47%	8	0.10%	0	0.00%	-398	-4.94%	8,063
Juneau	2,914	63.35%	1,586	34.48%	98	2.13%	2	0.04%	0	0.00%	1,328	28.87%	4,600
Kenosha	3,078	58.37%	2,101	39.84%	63	1.19%	28	0.53%	3	0.06%	977	18.53%	5,273
Kewaunee	1,750	49.81%	1,729	49.22%	31	0.88%	3	0.09%	0	0.00%	21	0.60%	3,513
La Crosse	5,324	58.24%	3,609	39.48%	198	2.17%	9	0.10%	1	0.01%	1,715	18.76%	9,141
Lafayette	2,852	55.83%	2,100	41.11%	153	3.00%	2	0.04%	1	0.02%	752	14.72%	5,108
Langlade	1,596	58.38%	1,080	39.50%	48	1.76%	5	0.18%	5	0.18%	516	18.87%	2,734
Lincoln	2,147	56.71%	1,552	40.99%	70	1.85%	15	0.40%	2	0.05%	595	15.72%	3,786
Manitowoc	4,317	49.50%	4,167	47.78%	65	0.75%	169	1.94%	4	0.05%	150	1.72%	8,722
Marathon	4,717	54.32%	3,768	43.40%	132	1.52%	28	0.32%	38	0.44%	949	10.93%	8,683
Marinette	4,237	70.98%	1,535	25.72%	176	2.95%	17	0.28%	4	0.07%	2,702	45.27%	5,969
Marquette	1,560	63.08%	866	35.02%	47	1.90%	0	0.00%	0	0.00%	694	28.06%	2,473
Milwaukee	34,790	52.52%	25,596	38.64%	751	1.13%	4,874	7.36%	232	0.35%	9,194	13.88%	66,243
Monroe	3,709	60.31%	2,247	36.54%	194	3.15%	0	0.00%	0	0.00%	1,462	23.77%	6,150
Oconto	2,754	69.72%	1,117	28.28%	74	1.87%	3	0.08%	2	0.05%	1,637	41.44%	3,950
Oneida	1,802	70.34%	708	27.63%	37	1.44%	13	0.51%	2	0.08%	1,094	42.70%	2,562
Outagamie	5,245	55.15%	4,008	42.14%	224	2.36%	30	0.32%	4	0.04%	1,237	13.01%	9,511
Ozaukee	1,280	38.42%	1,992	59.78%	37	1.11%	22	0.66%	1	0.03%	-712	-21.37%	3,332
Pepin	1,099	68.35%	470	29.23%	39	2.43%	0	0.00%	0	0.00%	629	39.12%	1,608
Pierce	3,433	72.95%	1,041	22.12%	224	4.76%	7	0.15%	1	0.02%	2,392	50.83%	4,706
Polk	2,735	77.48%	694	19.66%	72	2.04%	16	0.45%	13	0.37%	2,041	57.82%	3,530
Portage	3,285	54.60%	2,633	43.77%	92	1.53%	4	0.07%	2	0.03%	652	10.84%	6,016
Price	1,725	74.16%	529	22.74%	55	2.36%	14	0.60%	3	0.13%	1,196	51.42%	2,326
Racine	5,925	58.37%	3,855	37.98%	233	2.30%	133	1.31%	5	0.05%	2,070	20.39%	10,151
Richland	2,593	59.51%	1,524	34.98%	230	5.28%	10	0.23%	0	0.00%	1,069	24.54%	4,357
Rock	8,249	69.97%	3,094	26.24%	403	3.42%	36	0.31%	8	0.07%	5,155	43.72%	11,790
Sauk	4,329	60.89%	2,491	35.04%	276	3.88%	11	0.15%	3	0.04%	1,838	25.85%	7,110
Sawyer	723	68.53%	305	28.91%	23	2.18%	4	0.38%	0	0.00%	418	39.62%	1,055
Shawano	3,243	67.30%	1,504	31.21%	68	1.41%	3	0.06%	1	0.02%	1,739	36.09%	4,819
Sheboygan	5,927	53.77%	4,049	36.73%	123	1.12%	876	7.95%	48	0.44%	1,878	17.04%	11,023
St. Croix	3,368	58.98%	2,076	36.36%	202	3.54%	53	0.93%	11	0.19%	1,292	22.63%	5,710
Taylor	1,420	57.51%	1,012	40.99%	22	0.89%	14	0.57%	1	0.04%	408	16.52%	2,469
Trempealeau	3,364	71.23%	1,190	25.20%	167	3.54%	1	0.02%	1	0.02%	2,174	46.03%	4,723
Vernon	4,463	75.59%	1,268	21.48%	155	2.63%	16	0.27%	2	0.03%	3,195	54.12%	5,904
Vilas	1,208	69.27%	488	27.98%	37	2.12%	10	0.57%	1	0.06%	720	41.28%	1,744
Walworth	5,102	71.41%	1,742	24.38%	293	4.10%	6	0.08%	2	0.03%	3,360	47.03%	7,145
Washburn	808	73.99%	253	23.17%	29	2.66%	1	0.09%	1	0.09%	555	50.82%	1,092
Washington	2,614	50.24%	2,524	48.51%	56	1.08%	7	0.13%	2	0.04%	90	1.73%	5,203
Waukesha	5,127	60.91%	3,016	35.83%	252	2.99%	19	0.23%	4	0.05%	2,111	25.08%	8,418
Waupaca	5,284	76.29%	1,383	19.97%	253	3.65%	2	0.03%	4	0.06%	3,901	56.32%	6,926
Waushara	2,990	82.03%	525	14.40%	127	3.48%	3	0.08%	0	0.00%	2,465	67.63%	3,645
Winnebago	7,467	55.67%	5,605	41.78%	306	2.28%	27	0.20%	9	0.07%	1,862	13.88%	13,414
Wood	3,135	61.10%	1,878	36.60%	76	1.48%	35	0.68%	7	0.14%	1,257	24.50%	5,131
Totals	265,760	60.06%	159,163	35.97%	10,027	2.27%	7,048	1.59%	503	0.11%	106,597	24.09%	442,501

See also

• United States presidential elections in Wisconsin

References

1. Phillips, Kevin P.; The Emerging Republican Majority, pp. 381-382, 414 ISBN   978-0-691-16324-6
2. Phillips; The Emerging Republican Majority, p. 384
3. Sundquist, James; Politics and Policy: The Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson Years, p. 526 ISBN   0815719094
4. Barry Eichengreen; Michael R. Haines; Matthew S. Jaremski; David Leblang. "Populists at the Polls: Economic Factors in the 1896 Presidential Election" (PDF). National Bureau of Economic Research.
5. Burnham, Walter Dean; 'The System of 1896: An Analysis'; in The Evolution of American Electoral Systems, pp. 178-179 ISBN   0313213798
6. Cooper, John Milton jr.; ‘Why Wisconsin? The Badger State in the Progressive Era’; The Wisconsin Magazine of History, Vol. 87, No. 3 (Spring, 2004), pp. 14-25
7. ‘An Election Forecast’; Courier-Democrat (Langdon, North Dakota), September 6, 1900, p. 4
8. ‘Wisconsin Democrats Abandining Bryan’; The Craig News (Craig, Nebraska), October 19, 1900, p. 7
9. ‘Four Years More of M‘Kinley’; Evening Times-Republican (Marshalltown, Iowa); November 6, 1900, p. 1
10. Leip, Dave. "1900 Presidential General Election Results – Wisconsin". Dave Leip’s U.S. Election Atlas. Retrieved August 18, 2016.
11. "Popular Vote at the Presidential Election for 1900". Géoelections. (.xlsx file for €30 including full minor party figures)