1956 United States presidential election in Massachusetts

1956 United States presidential election in Massachusetts
Turnout	72.0% 3.0 pp
Eisenhower 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% 90–100%	Stevenson 50–60% 60–70%
President before election; Dwight Eisenhower ; Republican	Elected President; Dwight Eisenhower ; Republican

Last updated September 30, 2024

The 1956 United States presidential election in Massachusetts took place on November 6, 1956, as part of the 1956 United States presidential election, which was held throughout all contemporary 48 states. Voters chose 16 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Massachusetts voted decisively for the Republican nominee, incumbent President Dwight D. Eisenhower of Pennsylvania, over the Democratic nominee, former Governor Adlai Stevenson of Illinois. Eisenhower ran with incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon of California, while Stevenson's running mate was Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee.

Eisenhower carried the state with 59.32% of the vote to Stevenson's 40.37%, a Republican victory margin of 18.95%. As Eisenhower won a decisive re-election victory nationwide, Massachusetts weighed in for this election as about 4% more Republican than the national average. This remains the last presidential election in which Massachusetts voted more Republican than the nation,^[3] as the state would trend dramatically toward the Democratic Party beginning in 1960.

Once a typical Yankee Republican bastion in the wake of the Civil War, Massachusetts had been a Democratic-leaning state since 1928, when a coalition of Irish Catholic and other ethnic immigrant voters primarily based in urban areas turned Massachusetts and neighboring Rhode Island into New England's only reliably Democratic states. Massachusetts voted for Al Smith in 1928, for Franklin Roosevelt 4 times in the 1930s and 1940s, and for Harry S. Truman in 1948. However, General Dwight Eisenhower, a war hero and moderate Republican who pledged to support and continue popular New Deal Democratic policies, was finally able to appeal to a broad enough coalition both to win back the White House and to flip Massachusetts back into the Republican column.

In his initial 1952 campaign, Eisenhower won back Massachusetts by a closer 54–45 margin, but the popular incumbent, who governed in a very moderate way that appealed to New England voters, was able to more than double his margin of victory in the state in the 1956 election. Eisenhower carried 13 of the state's 14 counties, Stevenson's only victory coming from urban Suffolk County, home to the state's capital and largest city, Boston.

No Republican would carry Massachusetts in a presidential election again until Ronald Reagan narrowly won the state in 1980. As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last election that a Republican has won the counties of Bristol, Hampshire and Middlesex.^[4] Eisenhower's 1,393,197 votes were also the most votes for a Republican presidential candidate in Massachusetts.

To date, this is the last time that the cities of Everett, Holyoke, Lynn, Malden, Medford, New Bedford, Newton, North Adams, Northampton, Pittsfield, Randolph, Salem, Somerville, Springfield, Winthrop, and Worcester and the towns of Adams, Arlington, Brookline, Montague, Provincetown, Sharon, Somerset, Sunderland, and Watertown voted Republican.

Results

1956 United States presidential election in Massachusetts^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Republican	Dwight D. Eisenhower (incumbent)	1,393,197	59.32%	16
	Democratic	Adlai Stevenson	948,190	40.37%	0
	Socialist Labor	Eric Hass	5,573	0.24%	0
	Prohibition	Enoch A. Holtwick	1,205	0.05%	0
	Write-ins	Write-ins	341	0.01%	0
Totals			2,348,506	100.00%	16

Results by county

County	Dwight D. Eisenhower Republican		Adlai Stevenson Democratic		Various candidates Other parties		Margin		Total votes cast^[6]
County	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	Total votes cast^[6]
Barnstable	23,472	83.23%	4,672	16.57%	58	0.21%	18,800	66.66%	28,202
Berkshire	41,355	61.75%	25,361	37.87%	257	0.38%	15,994	23.88%	66,973
Bristol	109,542	57.85%	79,357	41.91%	466	0.25%	30,185	15.94%	189,365
Dukes	2,618	82.85%	541	17.12%	1	0.03%	2,077	65.73%	3,160
Essex	166,115	60.09%	109,671	39.67%	667	0.24%	56,444	20.42%	276,453
Franklin	19,779	72.09%	7,574	27.61%	83	0.30%	12,205	44.48%	27,436
Hampden	104,689	55.87%	81,743	43.63%	935	0.50%	22,946	12.24%	187,367
Hampshire	26,361	61.93%	16,119	37.87%	84	0.20%	10,242	24.06%	42,564
Middlesex	343,125	61.12%	216,668	38.60%	1,580	0.28%	126,457	22.52%	561,373
Nantucket	1,582	83.26%	317	16.68%	1	0.05%	1,265	66.58%	1,900
Norfolk	152,747	66.41%	76,656	33.33%	593	0.26%	76,091	33.08%	229,996
Plymouth	75,575	71.19%	30,377	28.61%	209	0.20%	45,198	42.58%	106,161
Suffolk	162,836	45.78%	191,245	53.77%	1,605	0.45%	-28,409	-7.99%	355,686
Worcester	163,401	60.10%	107,889	39.68%	580	0.21%	55,512	20.42%	271,870
Totals	1,393,197	59.32%	948,190	40.37%	7,119	0.31%	445,007	18.95%	2,348,506

Notes

↑ Although he was born in Texas and grew up in Kansas before his military career, at the time of his 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.

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References

↑ Bicentennial Edition: Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970, part 2, p. 1072.
↑ "The Presidents". David Leip. Retrieved September 27, 2017. Eisenhower's home state for the 1956 Election was Pennsylvania
↑ Counting the Votes; Massachusetts
↑ Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016
↑ "1956 Presidential General Election Results - Massachusetts". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved February 7, 2013.
↑ Scammon, Richard M. (compiler); America at the Polls: A Handbook of Presidential Election Statistics 1920-1964; p. 215 ISBN 0405077114

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[2] Although he was born in Texas and grew up in Kansas before his military career, at the time of his 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.

[1] Bicentennial Edition: Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970, part 2, p. 1072.

[3] "The Presidents". David Leip. Retrieved September 27, 2017. Eisenhower's home state for the 1956 Election was Pennsylvania

[4] Counting the Votes; Massachusetts

[How-5] Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016

[6] "1956 Presidential General Election Results - Massachusetts". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved February 7, 2013.

[7] Scammon, Richard M. (compiler); America at the Polls: A Handbook of Presidential Election Statistics 1920-1964; p. 215 ISBN 0405077114

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