1904 United States presidential election in Utah explained

See main article: 1904 United States presidential election.

Election Name:1904 United States presidential election in Utah
Country:Utah
Flag Year:1903
Type:presidential
Ongoing:no
Previous Election:1900 United States presidential election in Utah
Previous Year:1900
Next Election:1908 United States presidential election in Utah
Next Year:1908
Election Date:November 8, 1904
Image1:Theodore Roosevelt by the Pach Bros (cropped 3x4).jpg
Nominee1:Theodore Roosevelt
Party1:Republican Party (United States)
Home State1:New York
Running Mate1:Charles W. Fairbanks
Electoral Vote1:3
Popular Vote1:62,452
Percentage1:61.41%
Nominee2:Alton B. Parker
Party2:Democratic Party (United States)
Home State2:New York
Running Mate2:Henry G. Davis
Electoral Vote2:0
Popular Vote2:33,413
Percentage2:32.86%
Image3:Debs-Eugene-circa1904.jpg
Nominee3:Eugene V. Debs
Party3:Socialist Party of America
Home State3:Indiana
Running Mate3:Ben Hanford
Electoral Vote3:0
Popular Vote3:5,767
Percentage3:5.67%
Map Size:250px
President
Before Election:Theodore Roosevelt
Before Party:Republican Party (United States)
After Election:Theodore Roosevelt
After Party:Republican Party (United States)

The 1904 United States presidential election in Utah was held on November 8, 1904, throughout all forty-five contemporary states as part of the 1904 United States presidential election. State voters chose three representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

In its first presidential election during its statehood year, Utah – with its large reserves of silver – had voted five-to-one for Democrat/Populist William Jennings Bryan, who ran on a platform of monetizing silver. However, with a revived economy, Utah moved much closer to the national mainstream in the ensuring 1900 election, as pre-statehood Republican Party hostility to the dominant LDS church gradually disappeared after the outlawing of polygyny in 1890.[1]

In between Utah’s second and third presidential elections, newly elected but unseated senator and Mormon apostle Reed Smoot went much further towards reversing the nineteenth-century hostility of the Republican Party to the Latter Day Saints. At a time when most traditional Protestant congressmen were opposed to Smoot being seated because religious influence was feared,[2] Mormon prophet and LDS Church President Joseph F. Smith said explicitly that members of the LDS Church should in political matters obey their consciences. Smoot – although a Republican – had been targeted by both major parties in the two years between his election by the Utah Legislature in 1902 and the 1904 presidential campaign, but he corresponded consistently with incumbent president Roosevelt.[3]

Smoot’s work was one factor allowing Roosevelt to sweep twenty-six of Utah’s twenty-seven contemporary counties and carry the state by 28.55 percentage points, which even in the largest landslide since the beginning of widespread popular voting for presidential electors made Utah 9.73 percentage points more Republican than the nation at-large. Another was that Parker himself was hostile to Mormon polygamy,[4] still another was the popularity in the West of Roosevelt’s conservation and trust-busting policies.[5]

Roosevelt’s percentage of the popular vote and margin would be bettered by no Republican in Utah until Dwight D. Eisenhower’s re-election in 1956.[6]

Results

Results by county

CountyTheodore Roosevelt
Republican
Alton Brooks Parker
Democratic
Eugene Victor Debs
Socialist
MarginTotal votes cast[7]
%%%%
Beaver86958.17%59339.69%322.14%27618.48%1,494
Box Elder2,40066.76%1,15132.02%441.22%1,24934.74%3,595
Cache4,00856.89%2,94841.85%891.26%1,06015.04%7,045
Carbon1,22465.38%50827.14%1407.48%71638.24%1,872
Davis1,65756.42%1,25542.73%250.85%40213.69%2,937
Emery90556.67%58336.51%1096.83%32220.16%1,597
Garfield67970.14%25226.03%373.82%42744.11%968
Grand26257.21%16536.03%316.77%9721.18%458
Iron74158.72%44235.02%796.26%29923.70%1,262
Juab1,49348.32%1,20639.03%39112.65%2879.29%3,090
Kane39979.64%10220.36%00.00%29759.28%501
Millard1,00159.23%68340.41%60.36%31818.82%1,690
Morgan49257.28%31536.67%526.05%17720.61%859
Piute35848.12%22830.65%15821.24%13017.47%744
Rich43964.65%24035.35%00.00%19929.30%679
Salt Lake20,66565.10%8,38926.43%2,6918.48%12,27638.67%31,745
San Juan13578.49%3620.93%10.58%9957.56%172
Sanpete3,82966.65%1,74130.30%1753.05%2,08836.35%5,745
Sevier1,72559.10%93031.86%2649.04%79527.24%2,919
Summit2,23257.87%1,35835.21%2676.92%87422.66%3,857
Tooele1,28963.44%63931.45%1045.12%65031.99%2,032
Uintah75350.40%63042.17%1117.43%1238.23%1,494
Utah6,49059.15%4,24338.67%2392.18%2,24720.48%10,972
Wasatch1,04260.79%65638.27%160.93%38622.52%1,714
Washington71848.38%76151.28%50.34%-43-2.90%1,484
Wayne31053.26%25143.13%213.61%5910.13%582
Weber6,33762.59%3,10830.70%6806.72%3,22931.89%10,125
Totals62,45261.41%33,41332.86%5,7675.67%29,03928.55%101,632

See also

Notes and References

  1. Balmer, Randall and Riess, Janet (editors); Mormonism and American Politics (Religion, Culture, and Public Life), pp. 135-137
  2. Perry, Luke and Cronin, Christopher; Mormons in American Politics: From Persecution to Power, p. 52
  3. Perry and Cronin; Mormons in American Politics, p. 54
  4. Murdock, Dr. Everett E.; From Washington and Adams to Hillary and Trump: The Stories behind the Story of Every U.S. Presidential Election, p. 120
  5. Menendez, Albert J.; The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004, p. 36
  6. Dave Leip’s U.S. Election Atlas; Presidential General Election Results Comparison – Utah
  7. Robinson, Edgar Eugene; The Presidential Vote; 1896-1932 (second edition); pp. 223-224 Published 1947 by Stanford University Press