1956 United States presidential election in Illinois

1956 United States presidential election in Illinois

←  1952 November 6, 1956 [1] 1960  →
All 27 Illinois votes to the Electoral College
Turnout	84.47%
Nominee Dwight D. Eisenhower Adlai Stevenson II Party Republican Democratic Home state Pennsylvania [a] [2] Illinois Running mate Richard Nixon Estes Kefauver Electoral vote 27 0 Popular vote 2,623,327 1,775,682 Percentage 59.52% 40.29%
County Results Eisenhower   50–60%   60–70%   70–80% Stevenson   40–50%   50–60%
President before election Dwight D. Eisenhower Republican Elected President Dwight D. Eisenhower Republican

The 1956 United States presidential election in Illinois took place on November 6, 1956, as part of the 1956 United States presidential election. State voters chose 27 ^[3] representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Illinois was won by incumbent President Dwight D. Eisenhower (R–Pennsylvania), running with Vice President Richard Nixon, with 59.52% of the popular vote, against Adlai Stevenson (D–Illinois), running with Senator Estes Kefauver, with 40.29% of the popular vote. ^{[4] [5]}

As of 2024, this is the most recent time that a Democratic candidate did not earn at least 1 million votes from Cook County, by far the state's most populous county and home to Chicago, in a presidential election.

Primaries

Turnout

The primaries and general elections coincided with those for other federal offices (Senate and House), as well as those for state offices. ^[6]

Turnout in the state-run primary elections (Democratic and Republican) was 31.69% with a total of 1,577,163 votes cast. ^{[6] [7]}

Turnout during the general election was 84.47%, with 4,407,407 votes cast. ^{[6] [8]} Both major parties held non-binding state-run preferential primaries on April 10. ^[6]

Democratic

1956 Illinois Democratic presidential primary

←  1952 April 10, 1956 (1956-04-10) 1960  →

Candidate Adlai Stevenson Home state Illinois Popular vote 717,742 Percentage 95.26%

The 1956 Illinois Democratic presidential primary was held on April 10, 1956, in the U.S. state of Illinois as one of the Democratic Party's state primaries ahead of the 1956 presidential election.

The popular vote was a non-binding "beauty contest". Delegates were instead elected by direct votes by congressional district on delegate candidates. ^[6]

All candidates besides Adlai Stevenson II, who won a landslide victory, were write-ins. ^{[6] [9]}

1956 Illinois Democratic presidential primary ^{[6] [9]}

Candidate	Votes	%
Adlai E. Stevenson	717,742	95.26
Estes Kefauver (write-in)	34,092	4.53
Frank Lausche (write-in)	1,146	0.15
Stuart Symington (write-in)	232	0.03
Averell Harriman (write-in)	134	0.02
Other write-ins	128	0.02
Total	753,474	100

Republican

1956 Illinois Republican presidential primary

←  1952 April 10, 1956 (1956-04-10) 1960  →

Candidate Dwight D. Eisenhower Home state Kansas Popular vote 781,710 Percentage 94.90%

The 1956 Illinois Republican presidential primary was held on April 10, 1956, in the U.S. state of Illinois as one of the Republican Party's state primaries ahead of the 1956 presidential election.

The preference vote was a "beauty contest". Delegates were instead selected by direct-vote in each congressional districts on delegate candidates. ^[6]

1956 Illinois Republican presidential primary ^{[6] [9]}

Candidate	Votes	%
Dwight D. Eisenhower (incumbent)	781,710	94.90
William F. Knowland	33,534	4.07
Lar "America First" Daly	8,354	1.01
Write-ins	91	0.01
Total	823,689	100

Results

1956 United States presidential election in Illinois ^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Dwight D. Eisenhower (inc.)	2,623,327	59.52%
	Democratic	Adlai Stevenson	1,775,682	40.29%
	Socialist Labor	Eric Hass	8,342	0.19%
	Write-in	Others	56	0.00%
Total votes			4,407,407	100%

Results by county

County	Dwight D. Eisenhower Republican		Adlai Stevenson Democratic		Various candidates Other parties		Margin		Total votes cast [10]
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
Adams	19,569	63.12%	11,402	36.78%	32	0.10%	8,167	26.34%	31,003
Alexander	4,425	51.38%	4,167	48.38%	21	0.24%	258	3.00%	8,613
Bond	4,342	60.41%	2,834	39.43%	11	0.15%	1,508	20.98%	7,187
Boone	6,706	77.96%	1,890	21.97%	6	0.07%	4,816	55.99%	8,602
Brown	2,026	53.67%	1,748	46.30%	1	0.03%	278	7.37%	3,775
Bureau	13,909	70.56%	5,781	29.33%	21	0.11%	8,128	41.23%	19,711
Calhoun	1,892	55.79%	1,498	44.18%	1	0.03%	394	11.61%	3,391
Carroll	6,503	70.60%	2,693	29.24%	15	0.16%	3,810	41.36%	9,211
Cass	4,125	54.97%	3,368	44.88%	11	0.15%	757	10.09%	7,504
Champaign	28,190	67.06%	13,799	32.82%	51	0.12%	14,391	34.24%	42,040
Christian	10,282	52.91%	9,093	46.79%	59	0.30%	1,189	6.12%	19,434
Clark	5,451	60.74%	3,519	39.21%	4	0.04%	1,932	21.53%	8,974
Clay	5,079	58.73%	3,553	41.08%	16	0.19%	1,526	17.65%	8,648
Clinton	7,378	63.46%	4,242	36.48%	7	0.06%	3,136	26.98%	11,627
Coles	12,436	62.13%	7,569	37.82%	10	0.05%	4,867	24.31%	20,015
Cook	1,293,223	56.80%	977,821	42.95%	5,800	0.25%	315,402	13.85%	2,276,844
Crawford	6,747	63.28%	3,906	36.63%	9	0.08%	2,841	26.65%	10,662
Cumberland	3,235	58.69%	2,272	41.22%	5	0.09%	963	17.47%	5,512
DeKalb	15,078	75.66%	4,826	24.22%	25	0.13%	10,252	51.44%	19,929
DeWitt	5,307	63.15%	3,093	36.80%	4	0.05%	2,214	26.35%	8,404
Douglas	5,559	66.66%	2,774	33.27%	6	0.07%	2,785	33.39%	8,339
DuPage	91,834	79.76%	23,103	20.06%	207	0.18%	68,731	59.70%	115,144
Edgar	7,942	64.52%	4,362	35.44%	5	0.04%	3,580	29.08%	12,309
Edwards	3,339	73.38%	1,210	26.59%	1	0.02%	2,129	46.79%	4,550
Effingham	6,904	60.67%	4,455	39.15%	21	0.18%	2,449	21.52%	11,380
Fayette	6,739	57.81%	4,914	42.15%	5	0.04%	1,825	15.66%	11,658
Ford	6,027	73.66%	2,152	26.30%	3	0.04%	3,875	47.36%	8,182
Franklin	11,761	50.98%	11,308	49.02%	0	0.00%	453	1.96%	23,069
Fulton	12,375	58.58%	8,702	41.19%	48	0.23%	3,673	17.39%	21,125
Gallatin	2,179	49.35%	2,230	50.51%	6	0.14%	-51	-1.16%	4,415
Greene	4,718	54.57%	3,909	45.21%	19	0.22%	809	9.36%	8,646
Grundy	7,640	74.46%	2,618	25.51%	3	0.03%	5,022	48.95%	10,261
Hamilton	3,675	57.75%	2,685	42.19%	4	0.06%	990	15.56%	6,364
Hancock	8,431	63.41%	4,854	36.50%	12	0.09%	3,577	26.91%	13,297
Hardin	1,919	56.93%	1,444	42.84%	8	0.24%	475	14.09%	3,371
Henderson	2,743	65.08%	1,469	34.85%	3	0.07%	1,274	30.23%	4,215
Henry	15,896	65.46%	8,349	34.38%	39	0.16%	7,547	31.08%	24,284
Iroquois	12,104	72.88%	4,487	27.02%	18	0.11%	7,617	45.86%	16,609
Jackson	10,526	58.72%	7,391	41.23%	10	0.06%	3,135	17.49%	17,927
Jasper	3,107	51.77%	2,895	48.23%	0	0.00%	212	3.54%	6,002
Jefferson	9,637	54.36%	8,090	45.64%	0	0.00%	1,547	8.72%	17,727
Jersey	4,220	55.24%	3,415	44.70%	5	0.07%	805	10.54%	7,640
Jo Daviess	6,762	69.81%	2,906	30.00%	18	0.19%	3,856	39.81%	9,686
Johnson	2,973	65.72%	1,549	34.24%	2	0.04%	1,424	31.48%	4,524
Kane	56,009	72.82%	20,848	27.10%	59	0.08%	35,161	45.72%	76,916
Kankakee	21,993	66.39%	11,088	33.47%	47	0.14%	10,905	32.92%	33,128
Kendall	5,057	78.15%	1,407	21.74%	7	0.11%	3,650	56.41%	6,471
Knox	18,656	66.04%	9,558	33.83%	37	0.13%	9,098	32.21%	28,251
Lake	66,781	67.33%	32,279	32.54%	129	0.13%	34,502	34.79%	99,189
LaSalle	33,461	64.52%	18,318	35.32%	83	0.16%	15,143	29.20%	51,862
Lawrence	6,104	61.89%	3,751	38.03%	7	0.07%	2,353	23.86%	9,862
Lee	11,653	71.98%	4,531	27.99%	5	0.03%	7,122	43.99%	16,189
Livingston	13,939	72.82%	5,197	27.15%	7	0.04%	8,742	45.67%	19,143
Logan	9,589	66.61%	4,793	33.29%	14	0.10%	4,796	33.32%	14,396
Macon	27,673	54.53%	23,066	45.45%	8	0.02%	4,607	9.08%	50,747
Macoupin	12,290	49.84%	12,303	49.89%	66	0.27%	-13	-0.05%	24,659
Madison	39,413	45.10%	47,897	54.80%	88	0.10%	-8,484	-9.70%	87,398
Marion	10,813	55.75%	8,551	44.09%	32	0.16%	2,262	11.66%	19,396
Marshall	4,764	67.64%	2,245	31.88%	34	0.48%	2,519	35.76%	7,043
Mason	4,677	58.73%	3,199	40.17%	88	1.10%	1,478	18.56%	7,964
Massac	4,265	64.18%	2,359	35.50%	21	0.32%	1,906	28.68%	6,645
McDonough	9,725	71.50%	3,872	28.47%	5	0.04%	5,853	43.03%	13,602
McHenry	24,912	78.48%	6,820	21.48%	13	0.04%	18,092	57.00%	31,745
McLean	25,758	67.62%	12,332	32.37%	5	0.01%	13,426	35.25%	38,095
Menard	3,188	63.44%	1,833	36.48%	4	0.08%	1,355	26.96%	5,025
Mercer	5,732	65.82%	2,969	34.10%	7	0.08%	2,763	31.72%	8,708
Monroe	4,715	64.03%	2,648	35.96%	1	0.01%	2,067	28.07%	7,364
Montgomery	9,945	56.36%	7,692	43.59%	8	0.05%	2,253	12.77%	17,645
Morgan	10,262	61.82%	6,327	38.11%	11	0.07%	3,935	23.71%	16,600
Moultrie	3,756	57.65%	2,751	42.23%	8	0.12%	1,005	15.42%	6,515
Ogle	13,194	78.21%	3,660	21.70%	16	0.09%	9,534	56.51%	16,870
Peoria	50,888	62.72%	30,145	37.15%	108	0.13%	20,743	25.57%	81,141
Perry	6,513	57.06%	4,901	42.94%	0	0.00%	1,612	14.12%	11,414
Piatt	4,622	66.23%	2,356	33.76%	1	0.01%	2,266	32.47%	6,979
Pike	5,920	52.31%	5,382	47.55%	16	0.14%	538	4.76%	11,318
Pope	1,842	66.62%	922	33.35%	1	0.04%	920	33.27%	2,765
Pulaski	2,966	56.74%	2,246	42.97%	15	0.29%	720	13.77%	5,227
Putnam	1,724	65.28%	913	34.57%	4	0.15%	811	30.71%	2,641
Randolph	8,439	55.44%	6,778	44.53%	4	0.03%	1,661	10.91%	15,221
Richland	5,304	68.05%	2,485	31.88%	5	0.06%	2,819	36.17%	7,794
Rock Island	31,342	51.72%	29,145	48.09%	118	0.19%	2,197	3.63%	60,605
Saline	8,481	53.96%	7,215	45.91%	20	0.13%	1,266	8.05%	15,716
Sangamon	42,951	59.71%	28,949	40.24%	35	0.05%	14,002	19.47%	71,935
Schuyler	3,068	58.22%	2,189	41.54%	13	0.25%	879	16.68%	5,270
Scott	2,303	60.91%	1,478	39.09%	0	0.00%	825	21.82%	3,781
Shelby	7,075	56.94%	5,337	42.95%	13	0.10%	1,738	13.99%	12,425
St. Clair	41,528	42.77%	55,295	56.94%	283	0.29%	-13,767	-14.17%	97,106
Stark	3,241	74.32%	1,118	25.64%	2	0.05%	2,123	48.68%	4,361
Stephenson	14,245	69.10%	6,349	30.80%	20	0.10%	7,896	38.30%	20,614
Tazewell	23,690	59.27%	16,230	40.61%	50	0.13%	7,460	18.66%	39,970
Union	4,204	49.06%	4,359	50.87%	6	0.07%	-155	-1.81%	8,569
Vermilion	26,534	59.51%	17,991	40.35%	60	0.13%	8,543	19.16%	44,585
Wabash	4,425	61.92%	2,713	37.97%	8	0.11%	1,712	23.95%	7,146
Warren	7,580	71.63%	2,996	28.31%	6	0.06%	4,584	43.32%	10,582
Washington	5,299	65.14%	2,820	34.67%	16	0.20%	2,479	30.47%	8,135
Wayne	6,286	61.37%	3,942	38.49%	14	0.14%	2,344	22.88%	10,242
White	6,128	56.13%	4,778	43.77%	11	0.10%	1,350	12.36%	10,917
Whiteside	17,589	73.95%	6,158	25.89%	37	0.16%	11,431	48.06%	23,784
Will	45,628	64.34%	25,188	35.52%	100	0.14%	20,440	28.82%	70,916
Williamson	13,438	56.44%	10,345	43.45%	27	0.11%	3,093	12.99%	23,810
Winnebago	48,332	62.38%	29,063	37.51%	89	0.11%	19,269	24.87%	77,484
Woodford	8,505	72.18%	3,257	27.64%	21	0.18%	5,248	44.54%	11,783
Totals	2,623,327	59.52%	1,775,682	40.29%	8,398	0.19%	847,645	19.23%	4,407,407

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

• Gallatin
• Union

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

• Franklin

See also

• United States presidential elections in Illinois

Notes

1. Although he was born in Texas and grew up in Kansas before his military career, at the time of the 1952 election Eisenhower was president of Columbia University and was, officially, a resident of New York. During his first term as president, he moved his private residence to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and officially changed his residency to Pennsylvania.

References

1. "United States Presidential election of 1956 – Encyclopædia Britannica" . Retrieved July 9, 2017.
2. "The Presidents". David Leip. Retrieved September 27, 2017. Eisenhower's home state for the 1956 Election was Pennsylvania
3. "1956 Election for the Forty-Fourth Term (1961-65)" . Retrieved July 9, 2017.
4. "1956 Presidential General Election Results – Illinois" . Retrieved July 9, 2017.
5. "The American Presidency Project – Election of 1956" . Retrieved July 9, 2017.
6. "OFFICIAL VOTE of the STATE OF ILLINOIS Cast at the GENERAL ELECTION, NOVEMBER 6, 1956 JUDICIAL ELECTION, 1955, 1956 • PRIMARY ELECTION GENERAL PRIMARY, APRIL 10 1958" (PDF). Illinois State Board of Elections. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 4, 2022. Retrieved July 4, 2020.
7. "OFFICIAL VOTE Cast at the PRIMARY ELECTION MARCH 16, 1982" (PDF). www.elections.il.gov. Illinois State Board of Elections. Retrieved July 4, 2020.^{[ permanent dead link ]}
8. "OFFICIAL VOTE Cast at the GENERAL ELECTION NOVEMBER 2, 1982" (PDF). www.elections.il.gov. Illinois State Board of Elections. Retrieved July 4, 2020.^{[ permanent dead link ]}
9. Illinois Blue Book 1955-1956. Illinois Secretary of State. p. 815. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
10. Our Campaigns; IL US President Race, November 06, 1956