1972 United States presidential election in New Jersey

Main article: 1972 United States presidential election

1972 United States presidential election in New Jersey

←  1968 November 7, 1972 1976  →
Turnout	84.41% [1] ( 2.40%)
Nominee Richard Nixon George McGovern Party Republican Democratic Home state California South Dakota Running mate Spiro Agnew Sargent Shriver Electoral vote 17 0 Popular vote 1,845,502 1,102,211 Percentage 61.57% 36.77%
County Results Nixon   50–60%   60–70%   70–80% The 1972 United States presidential election in New Jersey took place on November 7, 1972. All 50 states and the District of Columbia were part of the 1972 United States presidential election. Voters chose 17 electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president. New Jersey was won by the Republican nominees, incumbent President Richard Nixon of California and his running mate incumbent Vice President Spiro Agnew of Maryland. Nixon and Agnew defeated the Democratic nominees, Senator George McGovern of South Dakota and his running mate United States Ambassador Sargent Shriver of Maryland. Nixon carried New Jersey with 61.57 percent of the vote to McGovern's 36.77 percent, a margin of 24.80 points. [2] Nixon swept every county in New Jersey, including even traditional Democratic strongholds like Essex County, Mercer County, and Hudson County. Nixon's unique nationwide appeal to working-class Democrats in 1972 was most evident in his performance in Hudson County; the traditionally heavily Democratic county, which Nixon had lost decisively with less than forty percent of the vote in both 1960 and 1968, went to Nixon in 1972 by a 60–39 margin. This remains the last election in which a Republican presidential nominee has won Essex County, [3] although it was still McGovern's strongest, only narrowly going to Nixon by a 50–48 margin. Mercer County was the second-closest, with Nixon winning it, 52–47. Nixon's strongest county was rural Sussex County, where he received 74 percent of the vote. New Jersey in this era was a swing state with a slight Republican lean, and this pattern continued with the results of 1972. In the midst of a nationwide Republican landslide, New Jersey voted basically how the nation voted, its result being 1.6% more Republican than the national average. This was the third time in five presidential elections (1956–72) that the winning candidate won each of New Jersey's counties in an election, having also happened in 1956 and 1964. It had only happened once before, when Warren G. Harding achieved it in 1920 [4] and as of 2024, this is the last time that any presidential candidate has won all of New Jersey's counties. Results 1972 United States presidential election in New Jersey Party Candidate Votes Percentage Electoral votes Republican Richard Nixon (incumbent) 1,845,502 61.57% 17 Democratic George McGovern 1,102,211 36.77% 0 American John G. Schmitz 34,378 1.15% 0 People's Benjamin Spock 5,355 0.18% 0 Socialist Labor Louis Fisher 4,544 0.15% 0 Socialist Workers Linda Jenness 2,233 0.07% 0 America First John Mahalchik 1,743 0.06% 0 Communist Gus Hall 1,263 0.04% 0 Totals 2,997,229 100.0% 17 Voter Turnout (Voting age/Registered) 60%/82% Results by county County Richard Nixon Republican George McGovern Democratic John G. Schmitz [5] American Various candidates [5] Other parties Margin Total votes cast #  % #  % #  % #  % #  % Atlantic 45,667 59.54% 28,203 36.77% 1,373 1.79% 1,457 1.90% 17,464 22.77% 76,700 Bergen 285,458 65.34% 147,155 33.68% 2,985 0.68% 1,296 0.30% 138,303 31.66% 436,894 Burlington 70,805 61.97% 41,520 36.34% 1,485 1.30% 450 0.39% 29,285 25.63% 114,260 Camden 111,935 58.85% 75,202 39.54% 2,313 1.22% 757 0.40% 36,733 19.31% 190,207 Cape May 22,621 70.54% 8,729 27.22% 564 1.76% 155 0.48% 13,892 43.32% 32,069 Cumberland 26,409 58.18% 18,692 41.18% 229 0.50% 62 0.14% 7,717 17.00% 45,392 Essex 170,036 50.17% 161,270 47.59% 6,257 1.85% 1,325 0.39% 8,766 2.58% 338,888 Gloucester 44,806 62.92% 25,509 35.82% 771 1.08% 123 0.17% 19,297 27.10% 71,209 Hudson 136,895 60.15% 87,977 38.65% 1,669 0.73% 1,059 0.47% 48,918 21.50% 227,600 Hunterdon 21,282 68.97% 9,031 29.27% 387 1.25% 156 0.51% 12,251 39.70% 30,856 Mercer 69,303 52.03% 62,180 46.68% 1,211 0.91% 497 0.37% 7,123 5.35% 133,191 Middlesex 149,033 61.41% 88,397 36.42% 4,517 1.86% 747 0.31% 60,636 24.99% 242,694 Monmouth 124,830 65.71% 63,176 33.25% 1,280 0.67% 691 0.36% 61,654 32.46% 189,977 Morris 113,469 68.18% 50,937 30.60% 1,573 0.95% 455 0.27% 62,532 37.58% 166,434 Ocean 77,979 72.43% 27,710 25.74% 1,036 0.96% 942 0.87% 50,269 46.69% 107,667 Passaic 108,511 62.03% 62,302 35.62% 1,401 0.80% 2,709 1.55% 46,209 26.41% 174,923 Salem 16,371 64.84% 8,609 34.10% 216 0.86% 53 0.21% 7,762 30.74% 25,249 Somerset 56,524 66.03% 26,537 31.00% 2,257 2.64% 287 0.34% 29,987 35.03% 85,605 Sussex 25,977 74.44% 8,585 24.60% 299 0.86% 37 0.11% 17,392 49.84% 34,898 Union 148,290 61.03% 90,482 37.24% 2,369 0.98% 1,832 0.75% 57,808 23.79% 242,973 Warren 19,301 65.33% 10,008 33.88% 186 0.63% 48 0.16% 9,293 31.45% 29,543 Totals 1,845,502 61.57% 1,102,211 36.77% 34,378 1.15% 15,138 0.51% 743,291 24.80% 2,997,229 Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican Essex Hudson Mercer Middlesex Camden Atlantic Cumberland See also United States presidential elections in New Jersey Presidency of Richard Nixon Presidency of Gerald Ford The Watergate Scandal References "General Election Data - 1924 to 2022" (PDF). NJ.gov. "1972 Presidential General Election Results – New Jersey". Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved November 25, 2013. Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016 Thomas, G. Scott; The Pursuit of the White House: A Handbook of Presidential Election Statistics and History, pp. 439-440 ISBN   0313257957 "NJ US President, November 07, 1972". Our Campaigns. This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.