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1972 United States presidential election in Massachusetts

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1972 United States presidential election in Massachusetts

← 1968 November 7, 1972 1976 ⊟
Turnout68.7%[1] Increase 2.3 pp
 
Nominee George McGovern Richard Nixon
Party Democratic Republican
Home state South Dakota California
Running mate Sargent Shriver Spiro Agnew
Electoral vote 14 0
Popular vote 1,332,540 1,112,078
Percentage 54.20% 45.23%


President before election

Richard Nixon
Republican

Elected President

Richard Nixon
Republican

The 1972 United States presidential election in Massachusetts took place on November 7, 1972, as part of the 1972 United States presidential election, which was held throughout all 50 states and D.C. Voters chose 14 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Massachusetts voted for the Democratic nominee, Senator George McGovern of South Dakota, over incumbent Republican President Richard Nixon of California. McGovern's running mate was U.S. Ambassador Sargent Shriver of Maryland, who had replaced Senator Thomas Eagleton during the campaign, while Nixon ran with incumbent Vice President Spiro Agnew of Maryland.

McGovern carried Massachusetts with 54.20% of the vote to Nixon's 45.23%, a Democratic victory margin of 8.97 percentage points (19.82% more votes than Nixon). In the midst of a massive nationwide Republican landslide in which Richard Nixon had carried 49 states, Massachusetts proved to be the only state in the nation that would cast its electoral votes for George McGovern, joined by the District of Columbia. McGovern also carried the state by a surprisingly comfortable nine-point margin, making the state 32% more Democratic than the national average in the 1972 election.

McGovern, a staunch liberal Democrat best known for his strong principled opposition to the Vietnam War, was painted by the Nixon campaign as an extremist too far to the left of the American mainstream at the time, and this paid off in delivering Nixon a nationwide re-election landslide. Prior to 1972, Massachusetts had been a Democratic-leaning state since 1928, and a Democratic stronghold since 1960. But McGovern's comfortable victory in 1972 still stands out, as many other traditional Democratic strongholds abandoned the Democrats in 1972. For example, Nixon took neighboring Rhode Island by six points, even though it normally voted similarly to Massachusetts. J. Anthony Lukas noted that many New Yorkers felt that Ted Kennedy's outsize money and influence in Massachusetts played a major role in keeping the state in the Democratic column, summing up this explanation simply as "Teddy did it". Kennedy was also the brother-in-law of Democratic vice presidential nominee Shriver.[2]

To date, this is the last time that the towns of Deerfield, Gill, Monterey, Oak Bluffs, Pelham, Tisbury, Williamsburg, and Williamstown have voted Republican.

Results

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1972 United States presidential election in Massachusetts[3]
Party Candidate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Democratic George McGovern 1,332,540 54.20% 14
Republican Richard Nixon (inc.) 1,112,078 45.23% 0
Socialist Workers Linda Jenness 10,600 0.43% 0
American Independent John G. Schmitz (Write-in) 2,877 0.12% 0
Socialist Labor Louis Fisher (Write-in) 129 0.01% 0
People's Benjamin Spock (Write-in) 101 0.00% 0
Communist Gus Hall (Write-in) 46 0.00% 0
Libertarian John G. Hospers (Write-in) 43 0.00% 0
Write-ins Scattered (Other write-ins) 342 0.01% 0
Totals 2,458,756 100.00% 14
Voter Turnout (Voting age/Registered) 62%/79%

Results by county

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County[4] George McGovern
Democratic
Richard Nixon
Republican
Various candidates
Other parties
Margin Total votes cast
# % # % # % # %
Barnstable 22,636 38.08% 36,340 61.14% 466 0.78% -13,704 -23.06% 59,442
Berkshire 35,391 53.39% 30,380 45.83% 513 0.78% 5,011 7.56% 66,284
Bristol 103,163 54.65% 84,390 44.71% 1,215 0.64% 18,773 9.94% 188,768
Dukes 2,001 46.15% 2,312 53.32% 23 0.53% -311 -7.27% 4,336
Essex 157,324 52.96% 138,040 46.47% 1,719 0.57% 19,284 6.49% 297,083
Franklin 11,968 42.35% 16,088 56.93% 202 0.72% -4,120 -14.58% 28,258
Hampden 94,945 52.13% 86,164 47.31% 1,024 0.56% 8,781 4.82% 182,133
Hampshire 28,572 53.25% 24,529 45.72% 553 1.03% 4,043 7.53% 53,654
Middlesex 345,343 55.91% 269,064 43.56% 3,244 0.53% 76,279 12.35% 617,651
Nantucket 952 40.00% 1,418 59.58% 10 0.42% -466 -19.58% 2,380
Norfolk 150,732 52.57% 134,459 46.89% 1,558 0.54% 16,273 5.68% 286,749
Plymouth 69,124 47.32% 76,062 52.07% 878 0.61% -6,938 -4.75% 146,064
Suffolk 166,250 65.76% 85,272 33.73% 1,299 0.51% 80,978 32.03% 252,821
Worcester 144,139 52.77% 127,560 46.70% 1,428 0.53% 16,579 6.07% 273,127
Totals 1,332,540 54.20% 1,112,078 45.23% 14,138 0.57% 220,462 8.97% 2,458,756

Counties flipped from Democratic to Republican

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Results by congressional district

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McGovern won 11 of 12 congressional districts, including three that elected Republicans. Nixon won one that elected a Democrat (the 12th district). The results below show the percentage of the two-party vote share won by each candidate and do not account for third party votes.[5]

District Nixon McGovern Representative
1st 48.8% 51.2% Silvio O. Conte
2nd 48.2% 51.8% Edward Boland
3rd 45.9% 54.1% Robert Drinan
Harold Donohue
4th 44.3% 55.7% Harold Donohue
Robert Drinan
5th 47.0% 53.0% F. Bradford Morse
Paul W. Cronin
6th 47.2% 52.8% Michael J. Harrington
7th 42.9% 57.1% Torbert Macdonald
8th 33.9% 66.1% Tip O'Neill
9th 40.6% 59.4% Louise Day Hicks
Joe Moakley
10th 49.6% 50.4% Margaret Heckler
11th 43.4% 56.6% James Burke
12th 51.8% 48.2% Hastings Keith
Gerry Studds

Analysis

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On the county map, McGovern carried 9 of the state's 14 counties, including the most heavily populated parts of the state. The state's capital and largest city, Boston, would prove to be a McGovern stronghold; voters in Suffolk County, where Boston is located, cast 66% of the vote for McGovern. Boston is one of the few areas in the country where McGovern actually outperformed Jimmy Carter’s performance four years later in 1976; while Carter won narrow popular and electoral victories nationally, he carried Suffolk County with only 61%. On the other hand, despite Nixon's loss in the state and though Ronald Reagan would carry the state twice, this election remains the last time Dukes County, which had never voted Democratic before Lyndon B. Johnson’s landslide in 1964,[6] has voted Republican.[7]

The results in 1972 made Massachusetts the only state which Richard Nixon never carried in any of his three presidential campaigns, although it voted for Nixon when he was Dwight Eisenhower's running mate in 1952 and 1956. It voted for its native son John F. Kennedy when he defeated Nixon in 1960, and Hubert Humphrey when he lost to Nixon in 1968. This was also the first time in history that a Republican president was elected twice without ever carrying Massachusetts, a feat that has since been repeated twice, in 2004 and 2024. Nixon was the first president to win two terms without the state since Andrew Jackson in 1828 and 1832. As of 2024, this election marks only the second of three times (after 1852 and 1980) that Massachusetts has not voted for the same candidate as neighboring Rhode Island.

"Don't blame me! I'm from Massachusetts"

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A car with an 'I'm From Massachusetts, Don't Blame Me' bumper sticker in 1974.

After Nixon was re-elected, he would later resign only a year and a half into his second term due to his involvement in the Watergate scandal and the illegal activities he committed. After the Watergate scandal broke and Nixon resigned due to criminal activity, bumper stickers with the words "Don't blame me! I'm from Massachusetts" (and variants) became a symbol of the sentiment felt by Massachusetts residents, serving as a proverbial "I told you so" to the 49 states that supported Nixon's re-election.[8]


See also

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References

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  1. ^ REPORT NUMBER P20-253, Voting and Registration in the Election of November 1972, table 3
  2. ^ Lukas, J. Anthony (January 14, 1973). "As Massachusetts went—". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 17, 2019.
  3. ^ "1972 Presidential General Election Results - Massachusetts". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved February 7, 2013.
  4. ^ "1972 President General Election". Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts - Elections Division: Election Results Archive. Retrieved July 8, 2024.
  5. ^ "1972 United States Presidential Election, Results by Congressional District". Retrieved October 9, 2023.
  6. ^ The Political Graveyard; Dukes County, Massachusetts
  7. ^ Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016
  8. ^ Kahn, Joseph P. (October 23, 2012). "George McGovern's indelible mark on Massachusetts politics". Boston Globe. Retrieved May 31, 2015.