1924 United States presidential election in Idaho explained

See main article: 1924 United States presidential election.

Election Name:1924 United States presidential election in Idaho
Country:Idaho
Election Date:November 4, 1924
Flag Year:1907
Type:presidential
Ongoing:no
Previous Election:1920 United States presidential election in Idaho
Previous Year:1920
Next Election:1928 United States presidential election in Idaho
Next Year:1928
Image1:Calvin Coolidge cph.3g10777 crop.jpg
Nominee1:Calvin Coolidge
Party1:Republican Party (United States)
Home State1:Massachusetts
Running Mate1:Charles G. Dawes
Electoral Vote1:4
Popular Vote1:69,879
Percentage1:47.12%
Nominee2:Robert M. La Follette
Party2:Progressive Party (United States, 1924–1934)
Home State2:Wisconsin
Running Mate2:Burton K. Wheeler
Electoral Vote2:0
Popular Vote2:54,160
Percentage2:36.52%
Image3:John William Davis.jpg
Nominee3:John W. Davis
Party3:Democratic Party (United States)
Home State3:West Virginia
Running Mate3:Charles W. Bryan
Electoral Vote3:0
Popular Vote3:24,256
Percentage3:16.36%
Map Size:200px
President
Before Election:Calvin Coolidge
Before Party:Republican Party (United States)
After Election:Calvin Coolidge
After Party:Republican Party (United States)

The 1924 United States presidential election in Idaho took place on November 4, 1924, as part of the 1924 United States presidential election. State voters chose four representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

At state level, Idaho had begun in 1902 to be very much a one-party Republican state,[1] which it has largely remained since apart from the New Deal era of the 1930s and 1940s. For a time there was also a perception that the William Jennings Bryan-led Democratic Party had failed as a "party of reform".[2]

However, with the aid of a powerful "peace vote" due to opposition to participation in World War I,[3] and a considerable part of the substantial vote for Eugene Debs,[4] Woodrow Wilson almost completely swept the Western and Plains States in 1916 (Idaho included), losing only South Dakota and Oregon. These gains were to be lost due to growing anti-Asian and isolationist feelings in the West[5] – James M. Cox in 1920 lost every Idaho county by double digits.

To further marginalize the Democrats, in 1922 "Progressive Party" nominee H.F. Samuels ran ahead of Democratic candidate and former Governor Moses Alexander.[6] The conservatism of Coolidge and Davis resulted in Wisconsin Senator Robert M. La Follette senior mounting a third-party challenge – which La Follette had planned even before the Democratic Convention.[7] In agricultural western and midwestern states like Idaho, there was widespread discontent with the policies of the incumbent Coolidge Administration, and Idaho became one of La Follette's primary targets from the start of his campaign with running mate Burton K. Wheeler of Montana.[8] By the end of July, the GOP was concerned that La Follette was showing strength in Idaho,[9] and this fear grew as the election drew nearer.[10] It was always clear Democrat Davis had no chance in this GOP bastion,[11] and this was backed up by polls in the middle of October, which showed Davis running third and that many of the state's small number of Democrats were backing La Follette.[12]

Thinking he had won most of the West, despite polls actually showing him well behind Coolidge except in his home state, Nevada, and the northern Plains States,[13] La Follette did not campaign in the state during October, preferring to work in the eastern states where he felt he could gain more additional support.[14] In Idaho itself, polls in the four weeks of October showed Coolidge well ahead with around fifty percent of the vote.[15]

Coolidge ultimately underperformed the October polls in Idaho, but still comfortably carried the state by a double-digit margin over La Follette. Coolidge's strong performance in the conservative, highly Mormon southeast and also in Northern Idaho ensured his victory, whilst La Follette did best in rural areas of the southwest and central mountains, where he carried eight counties.

Results

Presidential CandidateRunning MatePartyElectoral Vote (EV)Popular Vote (PV)[16]
Calvin CoolidgeCharles G. DawesRepublican469,87947.12%
Robert M. La FolletteBurton K. WheelerProgressive054,16036.52%
John W. DavisCharles W. BryanDemocratic024,25616.36%

Results by county

CountyJohn Calvin Coolidge
Republican		John William Davis
Democratic		Robert Marion La Follette Sr.
Progressive		MarginTotal votes cast[17]
%%%%
Ada7,22054.47%2,25517.01%3,78028.52%3,44025.95%13,255
Adams42242.24%20820.82%36936.94%535.31%999
Bannock4,52044.99%1,61216.05%3,91438.96%6066.03%10,046
Bear Lake1,61154.19%88129.63%48116.18%73024.55%2,973
Benewah1,15846.98%31812.90%98940.12%1696.86%2,465
Bingham2,69353.45%69613.82%1,64932.73%1,04420.72%5,038
Blaine73241.59%54330.85%48527.56%18910.74%1,760
Boise38843.02%19821.95%31635.03%727.98%902
Bonner1,71440.19%54312.73%2,00847.08%-294-6.89%4,265
Bonneville2,88053.62%4318.02%2,06038.35%82015.27%5,371
Boundary82946.97%24413.82%69239.21%1377.76%1,765
Butte40946.01%19622.05%28431.95%12514.06%889
Camas22635.26%11317.63%30247.11%-76-11.86%641
Canyon3,82038.40%9659.70%5,16351.90%-1,343-13.50%9,948
Caribou50858.80%14817.13%20824.07%30034.72%864
Cassia2,03152.01%53813.78%1,33634.21%69517.80%3,905
Clark49669.47%436.02%17524.51%32144.96%714
Clearwater94647.47%32216.16%72536.38%22111.09%1,993
Custer58545.99%39430.97%29323.03%19115.02%1,272
Elmore78938.01%38118.35%90643.64%-117-5.64%2,076
Franklin1,36151.87%54020.58%72327.55%63824.31%2,624
Fremont1,66245.30%53014.45%1,47740.26%1855.04%3,669
Gem1,07241.31%38014.64%1,14344.05%-71-2.74%2,595
Gooding1,09745.42%42217.47%89637.10%2018.32%2,415
Idaho1,36338.17%77921.81%1,42940.02%-66-1.85%3,571
Jefferson1,39350.07%30510.96%1,08438.96%30911.11%2,782
Jerome1,11746.76%37615.74%89637.51%2219.25%2,389
Kootenai3,28944.84%79010.77%3,25644.39%330.45%7,335
Latah3,05352.28%83814.35%1,94933.37%1,10418.90%5,840
Lemhi1,00554.38%44223.92%40121.70%56330.47%1,848
Lewis65032.44%60129.99%75337.57%-103-5.14%2,004
Lincoln69254.36%15412.10%42733.54%26520.82%1,273
Madison1,41753.82%60122.83%61523.36%80230.46%2,633
Minidoka1,04639.92%2047.79%1,37052.29%-324-12.37%2,620
Nez Perce2,25042.42%1,21222.85%1,84234.73%4087.69%5,304
Oneida95642.81%53023.73%74733.45%2099.36%2,233
Owyhee56436.53%30920.01%67143.46%-107-6.93%1,544
Payette1,16047.39%40116.38%88736.23%27311.15%2,448
Power75743.13%31417.89%68438.97%734.16%1,755
Shoshone3,03451.02%83514.04%2,07834.94%95616.08%5,947
Teton66555.70%18615.58%34328.73%32226.97%1,194
Twin Falls4,63051.04%1,64118.09%2,80030.87%1,83020.17%9,071
Valley48640.57%21417.86%49841.57%-12-1.00%1,198
Washington1,18341.33%62321.77%1,05636.90%1274.44%2,862
Totals69,87947.12%24,25616.36%54,16036.52%15,71910.60%148,295

Analysis

During the pre-election primaries the Democratic Party was divided between a rural, southern and Western wing led by Woodrow Wilson's son-in-law William Giibs McAdoo, opposed to an urban, immigrant and anti-Prohibition faction in major northern cities.[18] The man who would ultimately represent this urban faction was New York Governor Al Smith, whose Catholic faith was vehemently opposed by many rural Appalachian Democrats.[18] Even in his adopted West, McAdoo was not universally liked because of his links to Edward L. Doheny and Harding's "Teapot Dome" petroleum scandal;[19] nonetheless there was sufficient hostility in Idaho to Smith that the state's delegation – alongside others in the West – held a parade for McAdoo at the beginning of the party's convention in New York City.[20] Delegates in Idaho continued to support McAdoo as the convention remained undecided,[21] [22] until the one hundred and first ballot when they finally shifted to former Agriculture Secretary David F. Houston and then to Montana Senator Thomas J. Walsh on the one hundred and second.[23] The 103rd ballot saw Idaho switch to West Virginian John W. Davis,[23] who won the nomination thereon.

See also

Notes and References

  1. Burnham, Walter Dean; 'The System of 1896', in Kleppner, Paul (editor), The Evolution of American Electoral Systems, pp. 176-179
  2. Robinson, Edgar Eugene; 'The Decline of the Democratic Party'; American Journal of Sociology, vol. 20, no. 3 (November 1914), pp. 313-334
  3. Menendez, Albert J.; The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004, p. 47
  4. Sarasohn, David; 'The Election of 1916: Realigning the Rockies', Western Historical Quarterly, Vol. 11, No. 3 (July 1980), pp. 285-305
  5. [Kevin Phillips (political commentator)|Phillips, Kevin P.]
  6. Weinstein, James; 'Radicalism in the Midst of Normalcy'; The Journal of American History, Volume 52, No. 4 (March 1966), pp. 773-790
  7. Richardson, Danny G.; Others: "Fighting Bob" La Follette and the Progressive Movement: Third-Party Politics in the 1920s, p. 180
  8. 'Electoral Arithmetic'; The New York Times, July 13, 1924, p. E2
  9. 'La Follette Boom Is Scanned by Anxious Eyes'; The Gazette Bedford, PA, July 25, 1924, p. 4
  10. 'Republicans Fear La Follette in West: Campaign Leaders Now Consider That His Strength There Is a Menace'; Special to The New York Times, September 15, 1924, p. 1
  11. 'Borah Big Factor in Idaho Contest: Politicians Say the Candidate He Endorses Will Carry the State'; Special to The New York Times, October 7, 1924, p. 3
  12. '5 Mountain States Still Uncertain: Neither Republicans Nor Progressives Are Really Confident of the Outcome, but Say Davis Runs Third'; Special to The New York Times, 12 October 1924, p. E1
  13. 'Latest Polls in Nationwide Straw Ballot'; The San Francisco Examiner, October 19, 1924, pp. 1, 8
  14. 'Senator Drops Plan to Stump Pacific States: La Follette Believes Partisan Contest Will Be Decided in Eastern Territory'; Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, October 19, 1924, p. 2
  15. "Idaho" in 'Big Coolidge Lead Held in "Digest" Poll'; San Francisco Examiner, October 24, 1924, p. 9
  16. Web site: 1924 Presidential General Election Results – Idaho. Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. 2019-12-30.
  17. [Idaho Secretary of State]
  18. Tucker, Garland; High Tide of American Conservatism: Davis, Coolidge, and the 1924 Election, pp. 81-82
  19. Ranson, Edward; '"A Snarling Roughhouse": The Democratic Convention of 1924'; History Today; volume 44, issue 7, (July 1994), pp. 27-33
  20. 'Westerners Hold Parade for McAdoo: Californians and Other Groups Demonstrate on Fifth Avenue – Audience Is Cool'; The New York Times, June 24, 1924, p. 2
  21. Henning, Arthur Sears; 'Vote Four Days with Deadlock: Tight as Ever'; Chicago Tribune; July 4, 1924, p. 1
  22. 'Efforts at Peace Are Fruitless: Smith Polls a New High Vote; McAdoo Sliding'; The Bee, July 5, 1924, p. 1
  23. 'How the States Voted'; The Charlotte Observer, July 10, 1924, p. 11

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