1912 United States presidential election in Wisconsin

Last updated October 07, 2024

The 1912 United States presidential election in Wisconsin was held on November 5, 1912 as part of the 1912 United States presidential election. State voters chose 13 electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Ever since the decline of the Populist movement, Wisconsin had become almost a one-party state dominated by the Republican Party.^[1] The Democratic Party became entirely uncompetitive outside certain German Catholic counties adjoining Lake Michigan as the upper classes, along with the majority of workers who followed them, completely fled from William Jennings Bryan’s agrarian and free silver sympathies.^[2] As Democratic strength weakened severely after 1894 – although the state did develop a strong Socialist Party to provide opposition to the GOP – Wisconsin developed the direct Republican primary in 1903 and this ultimately created competition between the “League” under Robert M. La Follette, and the conservative “Regular” faction.^[3]

At the turn of the decade, the Democratic Party underwent a brief revival, as it made significant gains upon its small share of state legislative seats and many people in the state saw in New Jersey Governor Woodrow Wilson the possibility of the party returning to the progressive ideals it was felt to have deserted with Bryan fifteen years beforehand.^[4] Wilson campaigned in the state as early as 1911 – long before he was the official Democratic nominee – and was soon able to get many Republicans who had supported La Follette onto his bandwagon, and retained them despite former President Theodore Roosevelt running his own “Bull Moose” campaign as a result of the ongoing national split in the Republican Party.^[4] Once regular nominee and incumbent Present William Howard Taft ceased campaigning in August, La Follette’s ability to hold Progressive GOP support for Wilson – outside the Scandinavian Lake Superior Lowland where Roosevelt controlled this group – meant that Democratic Party candidate Woodrow Wilson won Wisconsin's thirteen electoral votes with 41.07 percent of the popular vote.^[5]

La Follette won the Republican primary while Wilson won the Democratic primary. Francis E. McGovern and Andrew H. Dahl were elected to serve as delegates for La Follette in the Republican primary while William D. Hoard ran as a Taft delegate. James William Murphy and George Wilbur Peck ran as delegates for Champ Clark while William F. Wolfe ran as a delegate for Wilson.^[6]

With his win, Wilson became the first Democratic presidential candidate to win Wisconsin since Grover Cleveland in 1892. Another Democrat would not carry the state again until Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932.

As of 2020 ^[update], this is the only election in which Walworth County voted for a Democratic presidential candidate.^[7]

Results

1912 United States presidential election in Wisconsin
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Democratic	Woodrow Wilson	164,230	41.06%	13
	Republican	William Howard Taft (incumbent)	130,596	32.65%	0
	Progressive Independent	Theodore Roosevelt	62,448	15.61%	0
	Socialist	Eugene V. Debs	33,476	8.37%	0
	Prohibition	Eugene Chafin	8,584	2.15%	0
	Independent	Arthur E. Reimer	632	0.16%	0
	Write-ins	—	9	0.00%	0
Totals			399,334	100.0%	13

Results by county

County	Woodrow Wilson Democratic		William Howard Taft Republican		Theodore Roosevelt Progressive		Eugene V. Debs Socialist		Various candidates Other parties		Margin		Total votes cast^[8]
County	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	Total votes cast^[8]
Adams	462	30.90%	689	46.09%	204	13.65%	66	4.41%	74	4.95%	-227	-15.19%	1,495
Ashland	1,451	41.54%	937	26.83%	677	19.38%	315	9.02%	113	3.24%	514	14.71%	3,493
Barron	1,065	26.83%	1,414	35.62%	968	24.38%	265	6.68%	258	6.50%	-349	-8.79%	3,970
Bayfield	666	29.84%	514	23.03%	671	30.06%	306	13.71%	75	3.36%	-5^{[lower-alpha 1]}	-0.22%	2,232
Brown	3,557	42.16%	2,764	32.76%	1,396	16.55%	569	6.74%	151	1.79%	793	9.40%	8,437
Buffalo	848	33.29%	1,239	48.65%	372	14.61%	45	1.77%	43	1.69%	-391	-15.36%	2,547
Burnett	305	20.24%	403	26.74%	570	37.82%	172	11.41%	57	3.78%	-167^{[lower-alpha 2]}	-11.08%	1,507
Calumet	1,366	47.76%	931	32.55%	454	15.87%	85	2.97%	24	0.84%	435	15.21%	2,860
Chippewa	2,028	39.63%	1,736	33.93%	1,132	22.12%	102	1.99%	119	2.33%	292	5.70%	5,117
Clark	1,528	34.24%	2,035	45.61%	648	14.52%	143	3.20%	108	2.42%	-507	-11.37%	4,462
Columbia	2,473	42.73%	2,463	42.55%	583	10.07%	121	2.09%	148	2.56%	10	0.18%	5,788
Crawford	1,515	44.86%	1,407	41.66%	321	9.51%	69	2.04%	65	1.92%	108	3.20%	3,377
Dane	9,017	55.80%	5,244	32.45%	1,202	7.44%	298	1.84%	399	2.47%	3,773	23.35%	16,160
Dodge	5,246	59.97%	2,559	29.26%	705	8.06%	118	1.35%	119	1.36%	2,687	30.71%	8,747
Door	769	27.12%	1,167	41.15%	690	24.33%	72	2.54%	138	4.87%	-398	-14.03%	2,836
Douglas	1,181	23.00%	730	14.22%	2,285	44.51%	752	14.65%	186	3.62%	-1,104^{[lower-alpha 1]}	-21.51%	5,134
Dunn	833	22.24%	1,403	37.45%	1,174	31.34%	235	6.27%	101	2.70%	229^{[lower-alpha 2]}	6.11%	3,746
Eau Claire	1,727	34.57%	2,013	40.29%	895	17.91%	239	4.78%	122	2.44%	-286	-5.72%	4,996
Florence	131	21.83%	262	43.67%	182	30.33%	15	2.50%	10	1.67%	80^{[lower-alpha 2]}	13.34%	600
Fond du Lac	4,838	50.31%	3,014	31.34%	1,236	12.85%	349	3.63%	179	1.86%	1,824	18.97%	9,616
Forest	567	42.00%	518	38.37%	212	15.70%	30	2.22%	23	1.70%	49	3.63%	1,350
Grant	3,615	45.84%	3,283	41.63%	667	8.46%	99	1.26%	222	2.82%	332	4.21%	7,886
Green	1,716	41.61%	1,601	38.82%	516	12.51%	83	2.01%	208	5.04%	115	2.79%	4,124
Green Lake	1,407	47.15%	1,269	42.53%	195	6.53%	39	1.31%	74	2.48%	138	4.62%	2,984
Iowa	2,103	44.90%	1,886	40.26%	438	9.35%	32	0.68%	225	4.80%	217	4.64%	4,684
Iron	347	29.33%	473	39.98%	254	21.47%	72	6.09%	37	3.13%	-126	-10.65%	1,183
Jackson	606	22.88%	1,398	52.77%	477	18.01%	78	2.94%	90	3.40%	-792	-29.89%	2,649
Jefferson	4,381	62.40%	1,926	27.43%	490	6.98%	100	1.42%	124	1.77%	2,455	34.97%	7,021
Juneau	1,236	38.78%	1,322	41.48%	435	13.65%	135	4.24%	59	1.85%	-86	-2.70%	3,187
Kenosha	2,216	36.09%	1,671	27.21%	1,649	26.85%	492	8.01%	113	1.84%	545	8.88%	6,141
Kewaunee	1,696	54.32%	1,115	35.71%	263	8.42%	22	0.70%	26	0.83%	581	18.61%	3,122
La Crosse	4,263	53.07%	2,272	28.28%	999	12.44%	337	4.20%	162	2.02%	1,991	24.79%	8,033
Lafayette	1,852	41.50%	1,747	39.14%	756	16.94%	28	0.63%	80	1.79%	105	2.36%	4,463
Langlade	1,387	45.72%	710	23.40%	810	26.70%	91	3.00%	36	1.19%	577^{[lower-alpha 1]}	19.02%	3,034
Lincoln	1,760	52.41%	712	21.20%	627	18.67%	212	6.31%	47	1.40%	1,048	31.21%	3,358
Manitowoc	3,436	44.74%	2,389	31.11%	919	11.97%	890	11.59%	46	0.60%	1,047	13.63%	7,680
Marathon	4,043	44.26%	3,033	33.20%	1,274	13.95%	597	6.54%	188	2.06%	1,010	11.06%	9,135
Marinette	1,559	33.29%	1,618	34.55%	1,125	24.02%	276	5.89%	105	2.24%	-59	-1.26%	4,683
Marquette	923	41.30%	881	39.42%	365	16.33%	22	0.98%	44	1.97%	42	1.88%	2,235
Milwaukee	27,628	38.75%	17,877	25.07%	5,939	8.33%	19,243	26.99%	615	0.86%	8,385^{[lower-alpha 3]}	11.76%	71,302
Monroe	2,084	43.16%	1,841	38.13%	628	13.01%	125	2.59%	150	3.11%	243	5.03%	4,828
Oconto	1,523	35.77%	1,988	46.69%	554	13.01%	139	3.26%	54	1.27%	-465	-10.92%	4,258
Oneida	717	33.87%	774	36.56%	431	20.36%	175	8.27%	20	0.94%	-57	-2.69%	2,117
Outagamie	4,139	50.04%	2,384	28.82%	1,401	16.94%	192	2.32%	155	1.87%	1,755	21.22%	8,271
Ozaukee	1,878	63.27%	749	25.24%	241	8.12%	76	2.56%	24	0.81%	1,129	38.03%	2,968
Pepin	410	31.06%	528	40.00%	329	24.92%	27	2.05%	26	1.97%	-118	-8.94%	1,320
Pierce	985	29.10%	986	29.13%	1,204	35.57%	102	3.01%	108	3.19%	-218^{[lower-alpha 2]}	-6.44%	3,385
Polk	830	26.56%	848	27.14%	1,068	34.18%	270	8.64%	109	3.49%	-220^{[lower-alpha 2]}	-7.04%	3,125
Portage	2,301	43.32%	1,932	36.37%	890	16.75%	101	1.90%	88	1.66%	369	6.95%	5,312
Price	662	27.58%	708	29.50%	662	27.58%	290	12.08%	78	3.25%	-46	-1.92%	2,400
Racine	3,909	44.13%	2,606	29.42%	1,440	16.26%	612	6.91%	291	3.29%	1,303	14.71%	8,858
Richland	1,493	37.72%	1,623	41.01%	367	9.27%	127	3.21%	348	8.79%	-130	-3.29%	3,958
Rock	3,032	30.64%	4,276	43.21%	2,002	20.23%	261	2.64%	324	3.27%	-1,244	-12.57%	9,895
Rusk	522	30.67%	575	33.78%	344	20.21%	204	11.99%	57	3.35%	-53	-3.11%	1,702
Sauk	432	47.52%	295	32.45%	144	15.84%	15	1.65%	23	2.53%	137	15.07%	909
Sawyer	1,661	36.72%	1,535	33.94%	1,103	24.39%	99	2.19%	125	2.76%	126	2.78%	4,523
Shawano	3,968	41.23%	2,692	27.97%	1,628	16.91%	1,084	11.26%	253	2.63%	1,276	13.26%	9,625
Sheboygan	1,806	38.86%	1,728	37.18%	823	17.71%	188	4.04%	103	2.22%	78	1.68%	4,648
St. Croix	2,464	43.02%	2,171	37.91%	720	12.57%	67	1.17%	305	5.33%	293	5.11%	5,727
Taylor	821	35.91%	773	33.81%	379	16.58%	271	11.85%	42	1.84%	48	2.10%	2,286
Trempealeau	1,235	31.28%	1,763	44.66%	795	20.14%	50	1.27%	105	2.66%	-528	-13.38%	3,948
Vernon	1,253	27.14%	2,663	57.68%	463	10.03%	74	1.60%	164	3.55%	-1,410	-30.54%	4,617
Vilas	327	35.43%	304	32.94%	212	22.97%	71	7.69%	9	0.98%	23	2.49%	923
Walworth	2,125	36.38%	2,096	35.88%	1,237	21.18%	78	1.34%	305	5.22%	29	0.50%	5,841
Washburn	398	26.78%	409	27.52%	488	32.84%	148	9.96%	43	2.89%	-79^{[lower-alpha 2]}	-5.32%	1,486
Washington	2,425	51.57%	1,799	38.26%	302	6.42%	150	3.19%	26	0.55%	626	13.31%	4,702
Waukesha	3,594	48.82%	2,714	36.86%	597	8.11%	196	2.66%	261	3.55%	880	11.96%	7,362
Waupaca	1,563	26.70%	2,204	37.66%	1,767	30.19%	131	2.24%	188	3.21%	437^{[lower-alpha 2]}	7.47%	5,853
Waushara	772	25.54%	1,343	44.43%	741	24.51%	92	3.04%	75	2.48%	-571	-18.89%	3,023
Winnebago	4,631	41.00%	1,922	17.01%	4,098	36.28%	478	4.23%	167	1.48%	533^{[lower-alpha 1]}	4.72%	11,296
Wood	2,523	47.28%	1,742	32.65%	525	9.84%	369	6.92%	177	3.32%	781	14.63%	5,336
Totals	164,230	41.06%	130,596	32.65%	62,448	15.61%	33,476	8.37%	9,225	2.31%	33,634	8.41%	399,975

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

Counties that flipped from Republican to Progressive

Notes

1 2 3 4 In this county where Taft ran behind both Roosevelt and Wilson (but ahead of Debs) margin given is Wilson vote minus Roosevelt vote and percentage margin Wilson percentage minus Roosevelt percentage.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 In this county where Wilson ran third behind both Taft and Roosevelt, margin given is Taft vote minus Roosevelt vote and percentage margin Taft percentage minus Roosevelt percentage.
↑ In this county where Debs ran second ahead of Roosevelt and Taft, margin given is Wilson vote minus Debs vote and percentage margin Wilson percentage minus Debs percentage.

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References

↑ Burnham, Walter Dean; 'The System of 1896: An Analysis'; in The Evolution of American Electoral Systems, pp. 178-179 ISBN 0313213798
↑ Sundquist, James; Politics and Policy: The Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson Years, p. 526 ISBN 0815719094
↑ Hansen, John Mark; Shigeo Hirano, and Snyder, James M. Jr.; ‘Parties within Parties: Parties, Factions, and Coordinated Politics, 1900-1980’; in Gerber, Alan S. and Schickler, Eric; Governing in a Polarized Age: Elections, Parties, and Political Representation in America, pp. 165-168 ISBN 978-1-107-09509-0
1 2 Crews, Kenneth D.; ‘Woodrow Wilson, Wisconsin, and the Election of 1912’; Presidential Studies Quarterly, Vol. 12, No. 3: ‘Presidents, Vice Presidents and Political Parties: Performance and Prospects’ (Summer, 1982), pp. 369-376
↑ "1912 Presidential General Election Results – Wisconsin" . Retrieved August 18, 2016.
↑ The Primary Election of 1910 And The Presidential Primary of 1912. Industrial Commission of Wisconsin. 1912.
↑ Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016
↑ "WI US President Race, November 05, 1912". Our Campaigns.

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[RooseveltdTaft-9] 1 2 3 4 In this county where Taft ran behind both Roosevelt and Wilson (but ahead of Debs) margin given is Wilson vote minus Roosevelt vote and percentage margin Wilson percentage minus Roosevelt percentage.

["RooseveltdWilson-10] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 In this county where Wilson ran third behind both Taft and Roosevelt, margin given is Taft vote minus Roosevelt vote and percentage margin Taft percentage minus Roosevelt percentage.

[11] In this county where Debs ran second ahead of Roosevelt and Taft, margin given is Wilson vote minus Debs vote and percentage margin Wilson percentage minus Debs percentage.

[1] Burnham, Walter Dean; 'The System of 1896: An Analysis'; in The Evolution of American Electoral Systems, pp. 178-179 ISBN 0313213798

[2] Sundquist, James; Politics and Policy: The Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson Years, p. 526 ISBN 0815719094

[3] Hansen, John Mark; Shigeo Hirano, and Snyder, James M. Jr.; ‘Parties within Parties: Parties, Factions, and Coordinated Politics, 1900-1980’; in Gerber, Alan S. and Schickler, Eric; Governing in a Polarized Age: Elections, Parties, and Political Representation in America, pp. 165-168 ISBN 978-1-107-09509-0

[Woodrow-4] 1 2 Crews, Kenneth D.; ‘Woodrow Wilson, Wisconsin, and the Election of 1912’; Presidential Studies Quarterly, Vol. 12, No. 3: ‘Presidents, Vice Presidents and Political Parties: Performance and Prospects’ (Summer, 1982), pp. 369-376

[5] "1912 Presidential General Election Results – Wisconsin" . Retrieved August 18, 2016.

[6] The Primary Election of 1910 And The Presidential Primary of 1912. Industrial Commission of Wisconsin. 1912.

[how-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

[Our-8] "WI US President Race, November 05, 1912". Our Campaigns.

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