1968 United States presidential election in West Virginia

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1968 United States presidential elections in West Virginia
Flag of West Virginia.svg
  1964 November 5, 1968 [1] 1972  
  Hubert Humphrey in New York, 1968 (3x4 crop).jpg Nixon 30-0316a (cropped).jpg George Wallace (D-AL) (3x4).jpg
Nominee Hubert Humphrey Richard Nixon George Wallace
Party Democratic Republican American Independent
Home state Minnesota New York [lower-alpha 1] Alabama
Running mate Edmund Muskie Spiro Agnew S. Marvin Griffin
Electoral vote700
Popular vote374,091307,55572,560
Percentage49.60%40.78%9.62%

West Virginia Presidential Election Results 1968.svg
County Results

President before election

Lyndon B. Johnson
Democratic

Elected President

Richard Nixon
Republican

The 1968 United States presidential election in West Virginia took place on November 5, 1968, as part of the 1968 United States presidential election. West Virginia voters chose seven [2] representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Contents

West Virginia was won by the Democratic candidate, Vice President Hubert Humphrey, with 49.60 percent of the popular vote, against the Republican candidate, former Senator and Vice President Richard Nixon, with 40.78 percent of the popular vote. American Party candidate and former and future Alabama Governor George Wallace also appeared on the ballot, finishing with 9.62 percent of the popular vote. [3] [4]

West Virginia was Wallace's weakest antebellum slave state, whilst it was Humphrey's strongest as it had been for outgoing President Johnson. Wallace fared best in the Eastern Panhandle, urbanised Kanawha County and the emerging Rust Belt of the extreme Northern Panhandle, but even in those areas he did not crack a sixth of the vote in any county.

Strong unionisation meant that the state's predominant poverty-stricken white population did not turn to Wallace in significant numbers. [5] The state's relative loyalty to Humphrey was enhanced by its deep ties to the New Deal and the resultant unionisation, as in all of Appalachian coal country between the 1930s and 1990s. [6] This was helped by the fact that Johnson focused on this state, alongside Texas and culturally allied Kentucky, as critical for Humphrey's hope of regaining the White House. [7] Humphrey nonetheless did lose eighteen percent on Johnson's record performance from 1964.

Results

1968 United States presidential election in West Virginia
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Hubert Humphrey 374,091 49.60%
Republican Richard Nixon 307,55540.78%
American George Wallace 72,5609.62%
Total votes754,206 100.00%

Results by county

County [8] Hubert Humphrey
Democratic
Richard Nixon
Republican
George Wallace
American
MarginTotal votes cast
# %# %# %# %
Barbour 3,21047.34%3,20647.28%3655.38%40.06%6,781
Berkeley 4,92934.06%7,22349.91%2,32116.04%-2,294-15.85%14,473
Boone 6,39162.13%2,97028.87%9269.00%3,42133.26%10,287
Braxton 3,26854.02%2,44140.35%3415.64%82713.67%6,050
Brooke 7,50657.12%4,19131.89%1,44410.99%3,31525.23%13,141
Cabell 19,01844.12%19,41845.05%4,66610.83%-400-0.93%43,102
Calhoun 1,68246.57%1,61244.63%3188.80%701.94%3,612
Clay 1,91651.24%1,47439.42%3499.33%44211.82%3,739
Doddridge 84429.60%1,86165.28%1465.12%-1,017-35.68%2,851
Fayette 14,54666.96%5,24624.15%1,9318.89%9,30042.81%21,723
Gilmer 1,58249.48%1,40143.82%2146.69%1815.66%3,197
Grant 78619.76%2,93673.81%2566.44%-2,150-54.05%3,978
Greenbrier 6,31846.46%5,55940.88%1,72212.66%7595.58%13,599
Hampshire 1,79140.30%1,95944.08%69415.62%-168-3.78%4,444
Hancock 10,17454.03%6,18132.82%2,47613.15%3,99321.21%18,831
Hardy 1,76743.90%1,76843.93%49012.17%-1-0.03%4,025
Harrison 18,87254.22%13,70339.37%2,2346.42%5,16914.85%34,809
Jackson 3,46236.13%5,17353.99%9479.88%-1,711-17.86%9,582
Jefferson 3,12945.16%2,71839.23%1,08215.62%4115.93%6,929
Kanawha 46,65046.70%41,71241.76%11,52411.54%4,9384.94%99,886
Lewis 3,16840.43%4,02751.40%6408.17%-859-10.97%7,835
Lincoln 4,38650.82%3,66242.43%5836.75%7248.39%8,631
Logan 13,68667.42%4,75423.42%1,8619.17%8,93244.00%20,301
Marion 17,24658.94%10,17734.78%1,8386.28%7,06924.16%29,261
Marshall 8,44949.47%7,25242.46%1,3798.07%1,1977.01%17,080
Mason 4,54942.77%5,20848.97%8798.26%-659-6.20%10,636
McDowell 12,84267.81%4,02021.23%2,07510.96%8,82246.58%18,937
Mercer 12,73948.83%9,98538.28%3,36312.89%2,75410.55%26,087
Mineral 4,22542.07%4,54545.26%1,27312.68%-320-3.19%10,043
Mingo 8,67762.89%3,98828.90%1,1338.21%4,68933.99%13,798
Monongalia 13,12854.83%9,26138.68%1,5566.50%3,86716.15%23,945
Monroe 2,41240.95%2,92549.66%5539.39%-513-8.71%5,890
Morgan 1,01527.28%2,24460.32%46112.39%-1,229-33.04%3,720
Nicholas 4,85851.81%3,67839.22%8418.97%1,18012.59%9,377
Ohio 15,02649.65%13,07343.20%2,1647.15%1,9536.45%30,263
Pendleton 1,64345.29%1,68746.50%2988.21%-44-1.21%3,628
Pleasants 1,52246.69%1,53447.06%2046.26%-12-0.37%3,260
Pocahontas 1,94843.93%2,04046.01%44610.06%-92-2.08%4,434
Preston 4,02039.35%5,63655.16%5615.49%-1,616-15.81%10,217
Putnam 5,00943.18%5,25245.27%1,34011.55%-243-2.09%11,601
Raleigh 17,74460.14%8,77529.74%2,98710.12%8,96930.40%29,506
Randolph 5,56250.72%4,50841.11%8978.18%1,0549.61%10,967
Ritchie 1,28127.42%3,10666.50%2846.08%-1,825-39.08%4,671
Roane 2,63938.17%3,85155.70%4246.13%-1,212-17.53%6,914
Summers 3,52152.75%2,30534.53%84912.72%1,21618.22%6,675
Taylor 2,95345.92%3,01246.84%4667.25%-59-0.92%6,431
Tucker 1,75848.82%1,51141.96%3329.22%2476.86%3,601
Tyler 1,32429.20%2,89763.90%3136.90%-1,573-34.70%4,534
Upshur 2,31931.72%4,56562.44%4275.84%-2,246-30.72%7,311
Wayne 8,22750.41%6,00436.79%2,08812.79%2,22313.62%16,319
Webster 2,58262.87%1,24130.22%2846.92%1,34132.65%4,107
Wetzel 4,03845.12%4,12246.06%7898.82%-84-0.94%8,949
Wirt 82040.78%1,05152.26%1406.96%-231-11.48%2,011
Wood 14,29339.02%18,96051.76%3,3799.22%-4,667-12.74%36,632
Wyoming 6,64157.27%3,94734.04%1,0078.68%2,69423.23%11,595
Totals374,09149.60%307,55540.78%72,5609.62%66,5368.82%754,206

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

Notes

  1. Although he was born in California and he served as a U.S. Senator from California, in 1968 Richard Nixon’s official state of residence was New York, because he moved there to practice law after his defeat in the 1962 California gubernatorial election. During his first term as president, Nixon re-established his residency in California. Consequently, most reliable reference books list Nixon's home state as New York in the 1968 election and his home state as California in the 1972 (and 1960) election.

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References

  1. "United States Presidential election of 1968 — Encyclopædia Britannica" . Retrieved May 27, 2017.
  2. "1968 Election for the Forty-Sixth Term (1969-73)" . Retrieved May 27, 2017.
  3. "1968 Presidential General Election Results — West Virginia" . Retrieved May 27, 2017.
  4. "The American Presidency Project — Election of 1968" . Retrieved May 27, 2017.
  5. Phillips, Kevin P. The Emerging Republican Majority. p. 10. ISBN   978-0-691-16324-6.
  6. Phillips; The Emerging Republican Majority, pp. 135, 288, 347, 374
  7. Wainstock, Dennis. Election year 1968: the turning point. p. 172. ISBN   1936274418.
  8. "WV US President — November 05, 1968". Our Campaigns.