1908 United States presidential election in Ohio

Last updated

1908 United States presidential election in Ohio
Flag of Ohio.svg
  1904 November 3, 1908 1912  
  William Howard Taft, Bain bw photo portrait, 1908.jpg Unsuccessful 1908.jpg
Nominee William Howard Taft William Jennings Bryan
Party Republican Democratic
Home state Ohio Nebraska
Running mate James S. Sherman John W. Kern
Electoral vote230
Popular vote572,312502,721
Percentage51.03%44.82%

Ohio Presidential Election Results 1908.svg
County Results

President before election

Theodore Roosevelt
Republican

Elected President

William Howard Taft
Republican

The 1908 United States presidential election in Ohio was held on November 3, 1908, as part of the 1908 United States presidential election. State voters chose 23 electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Contents

Since the Civil War, Ohio politics had been controlled by a conflict between the anti-Civil War Appalachian southeast and German-American counties of the northwest, opposed both to the heavily Yankee and New Englander northeast and to the Ohio Company counties of the southeast. [1] There was also an area of the Virginia Military District in the southwest that was historically the state's Whig stronghold and later voted Republican. [2] The GOP had consistently controlled the state during this era, if largely due to the prevalence of Ohio natives on the ticket, [3] losing only one electoral vote to Democrat Grover Cleveland in 1892. Following the nomination of William Jennings Bryan for the first time in 1896, another Ohio native and former governor in William McKinley strengthened the party's hold on the state by his appeal to white ethnic migrants in Ohio's cities. [4] McKinley would also defeat Bryan in Ohio in 1900

In his third campaign against an Ohio native, Bryan extensively toured Ohio, associating Taft with John D. Rockefeller and Standard Oil – whom Bryan criticized as "vicious lawbreakers". [5] In September 1908 there had been reports of a major swing that would give Bryan a chance to be the first Democrat to carry the state since Franklin Pierce in 1852, [6] but a week before Bryan's tour it was reported that Gold Democrats and labor were turning away from Bryan. [7]

Ultimately, Taft won the state by a margin of 6.21%, a margin less than a third that by which Theodore Roosevelt defeated Alton B. Parker four years earlier.

Results

1908 United States presidential election in Ohio [8]
PartyCandidateVotesPercentageElectoral votes
Republican William Howard Taft 572,31251.03%23
Democratic William Jennings Bryan 502,72144.82%0
Socialist Eugene V. Debs 33,7953.01%0
Prohibition Eugene W. Chafin 11,4021.02%0
Socialist Labor August Gillhaus 7210.06%0
Independence Thomas L. Hisgen 4390.04%0
People's Thomas E. Watson 1620.01%0
Totals1,121,552100.0%23

Results by county

CountyWilliam Howard Taft
Republican
William Jennings Bryan
Democratic
Eugene Victor Debs [9]
Socialist
Eugene Wilder Chafin [9]
Prohibition
Various candidates
Other parties
MarginTotal votes cast [10]
# %# %# %# %# %# %
Adams 3,43252.11%3,04846.28%170.26%881.34%10.02%3845.83%6,586
Allen 5,84143.08%7,19553.07%3732.75%1270.94%210.15%-1,354-9.99%13,557
Ashland 2,80442.66%3,62755.18%560.85%841.28%20.03%-823-12.52%6,573
Ashtabula 8,21363.32%3,57227.54%9387.23%2311.78%160.12%4,64135.78%12,970
Athens 6,44961.57%3,65434.88%1641.57%1891.80%190.18%2,79526.68%10,475
Auglaize 3,00138.55%4,62259.38%1021.31%570.73%20.03%-1,621-20.82%7,784
Belmont 8,19348.02%7,75045.42%7304.28%3782.22%120.07%4432.60%17,063
Brown 2,63838.02%4,24261.14%230.33%350.50%00.00%-1,604-23.12%6,938
Butler 7,32040.61%9,67853.70%8854.91%850.47%560.31%-2,358-13.08%18,024
Carroll 2,51759.42%1,59037.54%441.04%831.96%20.05%92721.88%4,236
Champaign 4,15355.69%3,16042.38%460.62%931.25%50.07%99313.32%7,457
Clark 8,91752.97%6,52938.78%1,0406.18%3261.94%220.13%2,38814.19%16,834
Clermont 4,13748.91%4,15049.07%1071.27%610.72%30.04%-13-0.15%8,458
Clinton 4,10761.45%2,46436.87%280.42%761.14%80.12%1,64324.58%6,683
Columbiana 9,62653.26%6,73637.27%9485.25%7424.11%200.11%2,89015.99%18,072
Coshocton 3,60644.46%4,10650.62%3113.83%831.02%50.06%-500-6.16%8,111
Crawford 3,06132.84%6,00664.44%1661.78%780.84%90.10%-2,945-31.60%9,320
Cuyahoga 56,34455.39%39,95439.27%4,8184.74%3510.35%2620.26%16,39016.11%101,729
Darke 4,95142.60%6,39154.99%700.60%2101.81%10.01%-1,440-12.39%11,623
Defiance 2,53139.05%3,75457.91%1121.73%721.11%130.20%-1,223-18.87%6,482
Delaware 4,00752.77%3,33043.86%640.84%1862.45%60.08%6778.92%7,593
Erie 5,36650.14%4,98346.56%2932.74%410.38%190.18%3833.58%10,702
Fairfield 4,02340.24%5,82158.22%250.25%1251.25%40.04%-1,798-17.98%9,998
Fayette 3,34356.84%2,45141.68%330.56%490.83%50.09%89215.17%5,881
Franklin 28,91453.45%23,31443.10%1,2112.24%6061.12%520.10%5,60010.35%54,097
Fulton 3,60861.24%2,13136.17%691.17%821.39%20.03%1,47725.07%5,892
Gallia 3,91463.48%2,17135.21%250.41%500.81%60.10%1,74328.27%6,166
Geauga 2,59671.20%98226.93%320.88%320.88%40.11%1,61444.27%3,646
Greene 4,90260.14%2,88235.36%2322.85%1251.53%100.12%2,02024.78%8,151
Guernsey 5,21053.92%3,44935.69%7988.26%1962.03%100.10%1,76118.22%9,663
Hamilton 63,80356.49%45,42940.22%3,3062.93%3170.28%910.08%18,37416.27%112,946
Hancock 4,89945.44%5,42050.27%3563.30%930.86%130.12%-521-4.83%10,781
Hardin 4,44450.35%4,16447.17%991.12%1171.33%30.03%2803.17%8,827
Harrison 3,06959.36%1,96137.93%510.99%871.68%20.04%1,10821.43%5,170
Henry 2,42537.81%3,81759.52%1211.89%490.76%10.02%-1,392-21.71%6,413
Highland 4,14951.23%3,82347.21%230.28%931.15%100.12%3264.03%8,098
Hocking 2,74947.72%2,86449.71%951.65%470.82%60.10%-115-2.00%5,761
Holmes 1,25228.74%3,04369.84%290.67%310.71%20.05%-1,791-41.11%4,357
Huron 4,93052.73%4,26245.58%900.96%610.65%70.07%6687.14%9,350
Jackson 4,48955.84%3,23540.24%2092.60%901.12%160.20%1,25415.60%8,039
Jefferson 7,31057.21%4,88238.21%3552.78%2251.76%50.04%2,42819.00%12,777
Knox 4,31849.09%4,23348.12%1391.58%991.13%70.08%850.97%8,796
Lake 3,63566.97%1,60529.57%1212.23%631.16%40.07%2,03037.40%5,428
Lawrence 5,70866.67%2,65431.00%1341.57%650.76%10.01%3,05435.67%8,562
Licking 6,75644.55%7,68550.67%5983.94%1190.78%80.05%-929-6.13%15,166
Logan 4,75658.44%3,18639.15%760.93%1161.43%40.05%1,57019.29%8,138
Lorain 8,69957.10%5,46035.84%9446.20%1080.71%240.16%3,23921.26%15,235
Lucas 18,71548.46%16,20841.97%3,3948.79%1690.44%1340.35%2,5076.49%38,620
Madison 3,05154.93%2,43043.75%170.31%550.99%10.02%62111.18%5,554
Mahoning 10,76051.18%9,31244.29%6313.00%2981.42%220.10%1,4486.89%21,023
Marion 4,17546.12%4,65751.44%991.09%1161.28%60.07%-482-5.32%9,053
Medina 3,42757.32%2,37839.77%1181.97%520.87%40.07%1,04917.54%5,979
Meigs 4,10862.05%2,22533.61%2223.35%590.89%70.11%1,88328.44%6,621
Mercer 2,14831.92%4,45666.22%460.68%731.08%60.09%-2,308-34.30%6,729
Miami 6,55853.69%5,36943.95%1821.49%1000.82%60.05%1,1899.73%12,215
Monroe 1,97432.74%3,96165.69%380.63%570.95%00.00%-1,987-32.95%6,030
Montgomery 20,06947.09%20,56648.26%1,7804.18%1770.42%230.05%-497-1.17%42,615
Morgan 2,44553.99%1,93242.66%561.24%922.03%40.09%51311.33%4,529
Morrow 2,50051.06%2,23945.73%300.61%1212.47%60.12%2615.33%4,896
Muskingum 8,08052.36%6,57642.62%4202.72%3402.20%150.10%1,5049.75%15,431
Noble 2,70754.27%2,15443.18%280.56%931.86%60.12%55311.09%4,988
Ottawa 2,20239.48%3,32959.69%250.45%170.30%40.07%-1,127-20.21%5,577
Paulding 3,04951.62%2,76746.84%190.32%631.07%90.15%2824.77%5,907
Perry 4,30449.48%3,88544.67%3984.58%1021.17%90.10%4194.82%8,698
Pickaway 3,11943.15%4,00755.43%220.30%761.05%50.07%-888-12.28%7,229
Pike 1,79845.54%2,08552.81%240.61%340.86%70.18%-287-7.27%3,948
Portage 4,12951.16%3,62544.91%1832.27%1271.57%70.09%5046.24%8,071
Preble 3,51950.99%3,24747.05%420.61%901.30%30.04%2723.94%6,901
Putnam 2,48333.17%4,83664.61%951.27%650.87%60.08%-2,353-31.44%7,485
Richland 5,30143.01%6,70254.37%2131.73%1020.83%80.06%-1,401-11.37%12,326
Ross 5,43249.69%5,32548.71%890.81%750.69%100.09%1070.98%10,931
Sandusky 4,07942.74%5,24254.93%1721.80%470.49%30.03%-1,163-12.19%9,543
Scioto 5,79053.52%4,31039.84%5895.44%1191.10%100.09%1,48013.68%10,818
Seneca 4,95943.08%6,13853.32%3072.67%880.76%200.17%-1,179-10.24%11,512
Shelby 2,64640.06%3,87958.73%380.58%380.58%40.06%-1,233-18.67%6,605
Stark 14,11250.48%12,28643.95%1,1103.97%4051.45%440.16%1,8266.53%27,957
Summit 10,36547.31%9,93045.32%1,2555.73%3281.50%310.14%4351.99%21,909
Trumbull 6,97858.00%4,47637.20%3973.30%1651.37%150.12%2,50220.80%12,031
Tuscarawas 6,71747.29%6,77547.69%5593.94%1200.84%340.24%-58-0.41%14,205
Union 3,56757.04%2,56841.07%310.50%831.33%40.06%99915.98%6,253
Van Wert 3,80949.28%3,78348.95%771.00%550.71%50.06%260.34%7,729
Vinton 1,91655.10%1,49643.03%250.72%320.92%80.23%42012.08%3,477
Warren 4,23360.51%2,65637.96%500.71%530.76%40.06%1,57722.54%6,996
Washington 5,64848.66%5,77149.72%580.50%1261.09%40.03%-123-1.06%11,607
Wayne 4,38843.51%5,36853.23%1491.48%1741.73%50.05%-980-9.72%10,084
Williams 3,62550.84%3,32946.69%600.84%1091.53%70.10%2964.15%7,130
Wood 5,90449.57%5,62547.23%2091.75%1631.37%90.08%2792.34%11,910
Wyandot 2,40841.36%3,35357.59%320.55%230.40%60.10%-945-16.23%5,822
Totals572,31251.03%502,72144.82%33,7953.01%11,4021.02%1,3220.12%69,5916.20%1,121,552

See also

References

  1. Phillips, Kevin P.; The Emerging Republican Majority, p. 343 ISBN   9780691163246
  2. Flinn, Thomas A.; 'Continuity and Change in Ohio Politics'; The Journal of Politics, vol. 24, no. 3 (August 1962), pp. 521-544
  3. Phillips; The Emerging Republican Majority, p. 352
  4. Sullivan, James Casey; 'Against the Tendencies of the Times: The Republican Party and the Roots of Modern Conservatism, 1900-1930' (thesis), p. 93
  5. 'Bryan Links Taft with Rockefeller: In Tour of Ohio He Makes Standard Oil Head and Carnegie His Chief Theme'; The New York Times , October 31, 1908, p. 3
  6. 'Ohio Republicans Need Stirring Up: In Taft's Own State the Trend Is Now All Toward Bryan'; The New York Times, September 22, 1908, p. 2
  7. 'Republicans Turn the Tide in Ohio: Bryan Wave, Which Threatened to Swamp Them, Is Now on the Ebb'; The New York Times, October 22, 1908, p. 4
  8. Dave Leip's U.S. Election Atlas; 1908 Presidential General Election Results – Ohio
  9. 1 2 "Popular Vote at the Presidential Election for 1908". Géoelections.
  10. Robinson, Edgar Eugene; The Presidential Vote 1896-1932, pp. 292-299 ISBN   9780804716963