United States presidential elections in Massachusetts

Presidential elections in Massachusetts

Number of elections	59
Voted Democratic	21
Voted Republican	21
Voted Whig	5
Voted Democratic-Republican	5
Voted Federalist	5
Voted other	2 [lower-alpha 1]
Voted for winning candidate	38
Voted for losing candidate	21

Following is a table of United States presidential elections in Massachusetts, ordered by year. Since its admission to statehood in 1788, Massachusetts has participated in every U.S. presidential election.

Winners of the state are in bold. The shading refers to the state winner, and not the national winner.

Elections from 1864 to present

From 1864 to 1924, Massachusetts was a reliably Republican state, going Democratic only in the election of 1912 where the Republican Party was split. However, the increased strength of the Irish Catholic voting bloc led the state to support Al Smith in 1928 and Franklin D. Roosevelt in all four of his elections. Since 1956, Ronald Reagan (in 1980 and 1984) has been the only Republican to carry Massachusetts.

Year	Winner (nationally)	Votes	Percent	Runner-up (nationally)	Votes	Percent	Other national candidates [lower-alpha 2]	Votes	Percent	Electoral Votes	Notes
2020 [1]	Joe Biden	2,382,202	65.60	Donald Trump	1,167,202	32.14	—			11
2016 [2]	Donald Trump [lower-alpha 3]	1,090,893	32.81	Hillary Clinton	1,995,196	60.01	—			11
2012 [3]	Barack Obama	1,921,290	60.65	Mitt Romney	1,188,314	37.51	—			11
2008 [4]	Barack Obama	1,904,097	61.80	John McCain	1,108,854	35.99	—			12
2004 [5]	George W. Bush	1,071,109	36.78	John Kerry	1,803,800	61.94	—			12
2000 [6]	George W. Bush [lower-alpha 3]	878,502	32.50	Al Gore	1,616,487	59.80	Ralph Nader	173,564	6.42	12
1996 [7]	Bill Clinton	1,571,763	61.47	Bob Dole	718,107	28.09	Ross Perot	227,217	8.89	12
1992	Bill Clinton	1,318,662	47.54	George H. W. Bush	805,049	29.03	Ross Perot	632,312	22.8	12
1988	George H. W. Bush	1,194,644	45.38	Michael Dukakis	1,401,406	53.23	—			13
1984	Ronald Reagan	1,310,936	51.22	Walter Mondale	1,239,606	48.43	—			13
1980	Ronald Reagan	1,057,631	41.90	Jimmy Carter	1,053,802	41.75	John B. Anderson	382,539	15.15	14
1976	Jimmy Carter	1,429,475	56.11	Gerald Ford	1,030,276	40.44	—			14
1972	Richard Nixon	1,112,078	45.23	George McGovern	1,332,540	54.20	—			14
1968	Richard Nixon	766,844	32.89	Hubert Humphrey	1,469,218	63.01	George Wallace	87,088	3.73	14
1964	Lyndon B. Johnson	1,786,422	76.19	Barry Goldwater	549,727	23.44	—			14
1960	John F. Kennedy	1,487,174	60.22	Richard Nixon	976,750	39.55	—			16
1956	Dwight D. Eisenhower	1,393,197	59.32	Adlai Stevenson II	948,190	40.37	T. Coleman Andrews/ Unpledged Electors [lower-alpha 4]	—	—	16
1952	Dwight D. Eisenhower	1,292,325	54.22	Adlai Stevenson II	1,083,525	45.46	—			16
1948	Harry S. Truman	1,151,788	54.66	Thomas E. Dewey	909,370	43.16	Strom Thurmond	—	—	16
1944	Franklin D. Roosevelt	1,035,296	52.80	Thomas E. Dewey	921,350	46.99	—			16
1940	Franklin D. Roosevelt	1,076,522	53.11	Wendell Willkie	939,700	46.36	—			17
1936	Franklin D. Roosevelt	942,716	51.22	Alf Landon	768,613	41.76	—			17
1932	Franklin D. Roosevelt	800,148	50.64	Herbert Hoover	736,959	46.64	—			17
1928	Herbert Hoover	775,566	49.15	Al Smith	792,758	50.24	—			18
1924	Calvin Coolidge	703,476	62.26	John W. Davis	280,831	24.86	Robert M. La Follette	141,225	12.50	18
1920	Warren G. Harding	681,153	68.55	James M. Cox	276,691	27.84	Parley P. Christensen	—	—	18
1916	Woodrow Wilson	247,885	46.61	Charles E. Hughes	268,784	50.54	—			18
1912	Woodrow Wilson	173,408	35.53	Theodore Roosevelt	142,228	29.14	William H. Taft	155,948	31.95	18
1908	William H. Taft	265,966	58.21	William Jennings Bryan	155,543	34.04	—			16
1904	Theodore Roosevelt	257,822	57.92	Alton B. Parker	165,746	37.24	—			16
1900	William McKinley	238,866	57.59	William Jennings Bryan	156,997	37.85	—			15
1896	William McKinley	278,976	69.47	William Jennings Bryan	105,711	26.32	—			15
1892	Grover Cleveland	176,813	45.22	Benjamin Harrison	202,814	51.87	James B. Weaver	3,210	0.82	15
1888	Benjamin Harrison [lower-alpha 3]	183,892	53.42	Grover Cleveland	151,590	44.04	—			14
1884	Grover Cleveland	122,352	40.33	James G. Blaine	146,724	48.36	—			14
1880	James A. Garfield	165,198	58.53	Winfield S. Hancock	111,720	39.58	James B. Weaver	4,548	1.61	13
1876	Rutherford B. Hayes [lower-alpha 3]	150,064	57.80	Samuel J. Tilden	108,777	41.90	—			13
1872	Ulysses S. Grant	133,455	69.20	Horace Greeley	59,195	30.69	—			13
1868	Ulysses S. Grant	136,379	69.80	Horatio Seymour	59,103	30.20	—			12
1864	Abraham Lincoln	126,742	72.20	George B. McClellan	48,745	27.80	—			12

Election of 1860

The election of 1860 was a complex realigning election in which the breakdown of the previous two-party alignment culminated in four parties each competing for influence in different parts of the country. The result of the election, with the victory of an ardent opponent of slavery, spurred the secession of eleven states and brought about the American Civil War.

Year	Winner (nationally)	Votes	Percent	Runner-up (nationally)	Votes	Percent	Runner-up (nationally)	Votes	Percent	Runner-up (nationally)	Votes	Percent	Electoral Votes
1860	Abraham Lincoln	106,684	62.9	Stephen A. Douglas	34,370	20.3	John C. Breckinridge	6,163	3.6	John Bell	22,331	13.2	13

Elections from 1828 to 1856

In all of these elections, Massachusetts went for Whig Party, its predecessor the National Republican Party or its successor the Republican Party

Year	Winner (nationally)	Votes	Percent	Runner-up (nationally)	Votes	Percent	Other national candidates [lower-alpha 2]	Votes	Percent	Electoral Votes	Notes
1856	James Buchanan	39,244	23.08	John C. Frémont	108,172	63.61	Millard Fillmore	19,626	11.54	13
1852	Franklin Pierce	44,569	35.07	Winfield Scott	52,683	41.45	John P. Hale	28,203	22.19	13
1848	Zachary Taylor	61,072	45.32	Lewis Cass	35,281	26.18	Martin Van Buren	38,333	28.45	12
1844	James K. Polk	53,039	40.17	Henry Clay	67,062	50.79	—			12
1840	William Henry Harrison	72,852	57.44	Martin Van Buren	52,355	41.28	—			14
1836	Martin Van Buren	33,486	44.81	Daniel Webster	41,201	55.13	various [lower-alpha 5]			14
1832	Andrew Jackson	13,933	20.61	Henry Clay	31,963	47.27	William Wirt	14,692	21.73	14
1828	Andrew Jackson	6,012	15.39	John Quincy Adams	29,836	76.36	—			15

Election of 1824

The election of 1824 was a complex realigning election following the collapse of the prevailing Democratic-Republican Party, resulting in four different candidates each claiming to carry the banner of the party, and competing for influence in different parts of the country. The election was the only one in history to be decided by the House of Representatives under the provisions of the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution after no candidate secured a majority of the electoral vote. It was also the only presidential election in which the candidate who received a plurality of electoral votes (Andrew Jackson) did not become President, a source of great bitterness for Jackson and his supporters, who proclaimed the election of Adams a corrupt bargain.

Year	Winner (nationally)	Votes	Percent	Runner-up (nationally)	Votes	Percent	Runner-up (nationally)	Votes	Percent	Runner-up (nationally)	Votes	Percent	Electoral Votes
1824	Andrew Jackson	no ballots		John Quincy Adams	30,687	72.97	Henry Clay	no ballots		William H. Crawford	no ballots		15

Elections from 1788-89 to 1820

In the election of 1820, incumbent President James Monroe ran effectively unopposed, winning all twenty-two of the electoral votes of Massachusetts, and all electoral votes nationwide except one vote in New Hampshire. To the extent that a popular vote was held, it was primarily directed to filling the office of Vice President.

Year	Winner (nationally)	Runner-up (nationally)	Electoral Votes	Notes
1820	James Monroe	—	15	Monroe effectively ran unopposed.
1816	James Monroe	Rufus King	22
1812	James Madison	DeWitt Clinton	22
1808	James Madison	Charles C. Pinckney	19
1804	Thomas Jefferson	Charles C. Pinckney	19
1800	Thomas Jefferson	John Adams	16
1796	John Adams	Thomas Jefferson	16
1792	George Washington	—	16	Washington effectively ran unopposed.
1788-89	George Washington	—	10	Washington effectively ran unopposed.

See also

• Elections in Massachusetts

Notes

1. George Washington, 1788-89, 1792.
2. For purposes of these lists, other national candidates are defined as those who won at least one electoral vote, or won at least ten percent of the vote in multiple states.
3. Won the electoral college while losing the popular vote
4. Was allied with a slate of unpledged electors in Louisiana, Mississippi and South Carolina
5. Three other candidates ran and received electoral votes nationally as part of the unsuccessful Whig strategy to defeat Martin Van Buren by running four candidates with local appeal in different regions of the country. The others were William Henry Harrison, Hugh Lawson White, and Willie Person Mangum. None of these candidates appeared on the ballot in Massachusetts, whose ballot was the only one where Webster appeared.

References

1. "Presidential Election Results: Biden Wins". The New York Times . 3 November 2020. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
2. 2016 official Federal Election Commission report.
3. 2012 official Federal Election Commission report.
4. 2008 official Federal Election Commission report.
5. "Federal Elections 2004: Election Results for the U.S. President, the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives" (PDF). Federal Elections Commission. May 2005.
6. "2000 Presidential Election Statistics". Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections.
7. "1996 Presidential Election Statistics". Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved 2018-03-05.