1920 United States presidential election in Idaho

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1920 United States presidential election in Idaho
Flag of Idaho.svg
  1916 November 2, 1920 1924  
  Warren G Harding-Harris & Ewing crop.jpg James M. Cox 1920.jpg
Nominee Warren G. Harding James M. Cox
Party Republican Democratic
Home state Ohio Ohio
Running mate Calvin Coolidge Franklin D. Roosevelt
Electoral vote40
Popular vote88,97546,579
Percentage65.60%34.34%

Idaho Presidential Election Results 1920.svg
County Results
Harding
  50–60%
  60–70%
  70–80%

The 1920 United States presidential election in Idaho took place on November 2, 1920, as part of the 1920 United States presidential election. State voters chose four representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Contents

At state level, Idaho had begun in 1902 to be very much a one-party Republican state, [1] which it has largely remained since apart from the New Deal era of the 1930s and 1940s. For a time there was also a perception that the William Jennings Bryan-led Democratic Party had failed as a “party of reform”. [2]

However, with the aid of a powerful “peace vote” due to opposition to participation in World War I, [3] and a considerable part of the substantial vote for Eugene Debs, [4] Woodrow Wilson almost completely swept the Western and Plains States in 1916, losing only South Dakota and Oregon.

However, the Democratic Party’s gains in the West were not to last. By the beginning of 1920 skyrocketing inflation and Wilson's focus upon his proposed League of Nations at the expense of domestic policy had helped make the incumbent President very unpopular [5] – besides which Wilson also had major health problems that had left First Lady Edith effectively running the nation. Political unrest seen in the Palmer Raids and the "Red Scare" further added to the unpopularity of the Democratic Party, since this global political turmoil produced considerable fear of alien revolutionaries invading the country. [6] Demand in the West for exclusion of Asian immigrants became even stronger than before. [7]

With the very strong interior isolationist and anti-League of Nations sentiment of Northern and Central Idaho, [8] and local senator William Borah saying that all wars should be subject to a referendum in September, [9] it was apparent that Idaho would swing very strongly against the pro-League Cox, especially as the extremely independent Borah endorsed Harding on October 3. [10] Cox did make a brief visit to the state in mid-September, [11] The state’s opposition to Cox’s platform became further apparent when on October 24 the Democratic nominee said he did not accept that Congress should be able to veto presidential calls for war against foreign countries. [12]

As early as the end of August, Harding campaign strategists led by Washington State Senator Miles Poindexter were saying Cox’s pro-League policies would lose him the West. [13] a straw poll at the beginning of October vindicated Poindexter: Harding led Cox in Idaho by slightly less than a two-to-one margin. [14] At the end of October, Idaho was described as “absolutely certain” for Harding, [15] and such polls reflected the end result. Whereas internationalist GOP nominee Charles Evans Hughes won just five counties in 1916, Harding carried every Idaho county by double digits.

Results

Presidential Candidate Running Mate PartyElectoral Vote (EV)Popular Vote (PV) [16]
Warren G. Harding Calvin Coolidge Republican 488,97565.60%
James M. Cox Franklin D. Roosevelt Democratic 046,57934.34%
Eugene V. Debs Seymour Stedman Socialist 0380.03%
Aaron S. Watkins D. Leigh Colvin Prohibition 0320.02%

Results by county

CountyWarren Gamaliel Harding
Republican
James Middleton Cox
Democratic
Eugene Victor Debs [lower-alpha 1]
Socialist
Aaron Sherman Watkins [lower-alpha 1]
Prohibition
MarginTotal votes cast [18] [lower-alpha 2]
# %# %# %# %# %
Ada 8,41966.72%4,17333.07%80.06%190.15%4,24633.65%12,619
Adams 68263.62%39036.38%00.00%00.00%29227.24%1,072
Bannock 4,87162.00%2,98638.00%00.00%00.00%1,88523.99%7,857
Bear Lake 1,83161.67%1,13838.33%00.00%00.00%69323.34%2,969
Benewah 1,35162.98%79437.02%00.00%00.00%55725.97%2,145
Bingham 3,29373.55%1,18426.45%00.00%00.00%2,10947.11%4,477
Blaine 1,16967.57%56132.43%00.00%00.00%60835.14%1,730
Boise 58861.19%37338.81%00.00%00.00%21522.37%961
Bonner 2,21760.16%1,46839.84%00.00%00.00%74920.33%3,685
Bonneville 3,26069.67%1,41930.33%00.00%00.00%1,84139.35%4,679
Boundary 88362.71%52537.29%00.00%00.00%35825.43%1,408
Butte 64667.15%31632.85%00.00%00.00%33034.30%962
Camas 40059.08%27640.77%10.15%00.00%12418.32%677
Canyon 5,63362.53%3,37537.47%00.00%00.00%2,25825.07%9,008
Caribou 54174.93%18125.07%00.00%00.00%36049.86%722
Cassia 2,69069.54%1,17830.46%00.00%00.00%1,51239.09%3,868
Clark 59476.25%18423.62%10.13%00.00%41052.63%779
Clearwater 94766.22%48233.71%10.07%00.00%46532.52%1,430
Custer 80867.22%39432.78%00.00%00.00%41434.44%1,202
Elmore 1,06555.12%86744.88%00.00%00.00%19810.25%1,932
Franklin 1,61264.20%89935.80%00.00%00.00%71328.40%2,511
Fremont 1,99465.27%1,06134.73%00.00%00.00%93330.54%3,055
Gem 1,40462.73%83237.18%00.00%20.09%57225.56%2,238
Gooding 1,87870.42%78929.58%00.00%00.00%1,08940.83%2,667
Idaho 2,38667.90%1,12832.10%00.00%00.00%1,25835.80%3,514
Jefferson 1,79470.77%74129.23%00.00%00.00%1,05341.54%2,535
Jerome 1,73868.91%78431.09%00.00%00.00%95437.83%2,522
Kootenai 3,51865.93%1,81834.07%00.00%00.00%1,70031.86%5,336
Latah 3,85571.09%1,56828.91%00.00%00.00%2,28742.17%5,423
Lemhi 1,28964.71%69935.09%40.20%00.00%59029.62%1,992
Lewis 1,01358.49%71241.11%70.40%00.00%30117.38%1,732
Lincoln 75563.87%42736.13%00.00%00.00%32827.75%1,182
Madison 1,88365.79%97934.21%00.00%00.00%90431.59%2,862
Minidoka 1,62259.09%1,10740.33%160.58%00.00%51518.76%2,745
Nez Perce 2,76164.05%1,54835.91%00.00%20.05%1,21328.14%4,311
Oneida 1,50066.61%75233.39%00.00%00.00%74833.21%2,252
Owyhee 97165.34%51534.66%00.00%00.00%45630.69%1,486
Payette 1,69068.04%78531.60%00.00%90.36%90536.43%2,484
Power 1,15567.31%56132.69%00.00%00.00%59434.62%1,716
Shoshone 3,11264.23%1,73335.77%00.00%00.00%1,37928.46%4,845
Teton 90668.90%40931.10%00.00%00.00%49737.79%1,315
Twin Falls 5,89467.16%2,88232.84%00.00%00.00%3,01234.32%8,776
Valley 49360.49%32239.51%00.00%00.00%17120.98%815
Washington 1,86459.59%1,26440.41%00.00%00.00%60019.18%3,128
Totals88,97565.60%46,57934.34%380.03%320.02%42,39631.26%135,624

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 Some sources do not list these votes for Debs and Watkins, showing only the two major parties on the ballot [17]
  2. America at the Polls, p. 117 has different figures from these

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References

  1. Burnham, Walter Dean; ‘The System of 1896’, in Kleppner, Paul (editor), The Evolution of American Electoral Systems, pp. 176-179 ISBN   0313213798
  2. Robinson, Edgar Eugene; ‘The Decline of the Democratic Party’; American Journal of Sociology, vol. 20, no. 3 (November 1914), pp. 313-334
  3. Menendez, Albert J.; The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004, p. 47 ISBN   0786422173
  4. Sarasohn, David; 'The Election of 1916: Realigning the Rockies', Western Historical Quarterly , Vol. 11, No. 3 (July 1980), pp. 285-305
  5. Goldberg, David Joseph; Discontented America: The United States in the 1920s, p. 44 ISBN   0801860059
  6. Leuchtenburg, William E.; The Perils of Prosperity, 1914-1932, p. 75 ISBN   0226473724
  7. Vought, Hans P. ; The Bully Pulpit and the Melting Pot: American Presidents And The Immigrant, 1897-1933, p. 167 ISBN   0865548870
  8. Phillips, Kevin P.; The Emerging Republican Majority, p. 498 ISBN   9780691163246
  9. ‘War referendum Urged by Borah: Idaho Senator Says No Other Peace Scheme is Worthy of People's Confidence’; The Washington Post , September 15, 1920, p. 1
  10. ‘Borah Spurns All Linking of Nations, but Is for Harding: Says There Is No Alternative to Voting for the Republican Nominee’; Special to the New York Times, October 5, 1920, p. 1
  11. ‘Cox Now Charges $30,000,000 Is Goal: Declares Opponents Seek That Enormous Fund to Beat Him’; Special to the New York Times , September 14, 1920, p. 1
  12. ‘Cox Would Take Reservation to Article X – No Obligation to Use Military Force Unless Congress approves in Each Case’; New York Times, October 24, 1920, p. 1
  13. ‘Claims west for Harding: Poindexter Says Cox’s Wilsonian Policy Will Not Win Votes There’; Special to the New York Times, August 27, 1920, p. 1
  14. ‘Harding Leads in the Straw Vote: Cox Weak in North and West in Rexall Balloting’; Boston Daily Globe, October 3, 1920, p. 10
  15. ‘Harding 33 Sure, Cox 114, Is Prediction: John T. Adams of G. O. P. Committee Estimates Result of Electionm Lists Doubtful Votes. Republican Nominee, He Says, Will Capture at Least 380 in Total’; San Francisco Chronicle , October 31, 1920, p. F4
  16. "1920 Presidential General Election Results – Idaho". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
  17. Scammon, Richard M. (compiler); America at the Polls: A Handbook of Presidential Election Statistics 1920-1964; p. 123 ISBN   0405077114
  18. Idaho Secretary of State Election Division; State of Idaho Presidential Vote Cast at the General Election November 2, 1920