1956 United States presidential election in California explained

See main article: 1956 United States presidential election.

Election Name:	1956 United States presidential election in California
Country:	California
Type:	presidential
Ongoing:	no
Previous Election:	1952 United States presidential election in California
Previous Year:	1952
Next Election:	1960 United States presidential election in California
Next Year:	1960
Turnout:	86.56% (of registered voters) 0.29 pp 67.59% (of eligible voters) 6.48 pp^[1]
Election Date:	November 6, 1956
Image1:	Dwight David Eisenhower 1952 crop.jpg
Nominee1:	Dwight D. Eisenhower
Party1:	Republican Party (United States)
Home State1:	Pennsylvania^[2] ^[3]
Running Mate1:	Richard Nixon
Electoral Vote1:	32
Popular Vote1:	3,027,668
Percentage1:	55.39%
Nominee2:	Adlai Stevenson II
Party2:	Democratic Party (United States)
Home State2:	Illinois
Running Mate2:	Estes Kefauver
Electoral Vote2:	0
Popular Vote2:	2,420,135
Percentage2:	44.27%
Map Size:	400px
President
Before Election:	Dwight D. Eisenhower
Before Party:	Republican Party (United States)
After Election:	Dwight D. Eisenhower
After Party:	Republican Party (United States)

The 1956 United States presidential election in California took place in November 1956 as part of the 1956 United States presidential election. State voters chose 32 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president. The Democratic primary in California was seen as such a decisive win for Adlai Stevenson that it ended the insurgent Kefauver campaign.

California voted for the Republican incumbent, Dwight D. Eisenhower (with incumbent vice president and California native Richard Nixon as his running mate), in a landslide over the Democratic challenger, former Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson. However, Stevenson did improve his performance in California from four years previous. California's result was about 4.3% more Democratic than the nation-at-large.

As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last presidential election in California where the Republican candidate won the counties of Alameda and San Francisco, both of which have become strongholds of the Democratic Party.

Results

1956 United States presidential election in California^[4]
Partys		Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Republican	Dwight D. Eisenhower (incumbent)	3,027,668	55.39%	32
	Democratic	Adlai Stevenson	2,420,135	44.27%	0
	Prohibition	Enoch A. Holtwick	11,119	0.20%	0
	No party	T. Coleman Andrews (write-in)	6,087	0.11%	0
	No party	Write-ins	819	0.01%	0
	No party	Eric Hass (write-in)	300	0.01%	0
	No party	Darlington Hoopes (write-in)	123	0.00%	0
	No party	Farrell Dobbs (write-in)	96	0.00%	0
	No party	Gerald L. K. Smith (write-in)	8	0.00%	0
Invalid or blank votes					—
Totals			5,466,355	100.00%	32
Voter turnout					—

Results by county

County	Dwight D. Eisenhower Republican		Adlai Stevenson Democratic		Various candidates Other parties		Margin		Total votes cast
County		%		%		%		%	Total votes cast
	Alameda		192,911		52.40%		174,033		47.27%	1,187	0.33%	18,878	5.13%	368,131
	Alpine		114		79.72%		29		20.28%	0	0.00%	85	59.44%	143
	Amador		2,126		49.16%		2,181		50.43%	18	0.41%	-55	-1.27%	4,325
	Butte		18,382		58.43%		12,933		41.11%	147	0.46%	5,449	17.32%	31,462
	Calaveras		2,843		57.91%		2,049		41.74%	17	0.35%	794	16.17%	4,909
	Colusa		2,474		53.23%		2,171		46.71%	3	0.06%	303	6.52%	4,648
	Contra Costa		74,971		50.98%		71,733		48.78%	347	0.24%	3,238	2.20%	147,051
	Del Norte		2,918		53.18%		2,552		46.51%	17	0.31%	366	6.67%	5,487
	El Dorado		4,613		53.60%		3,957		45.97%	37	0.43%	656	7.63%	8,607
	Fresno		51,611		43.33%		67,234		56.44%	270	0.23%	-15,623	-13.11%	119,115
	Glenn		3,463		51.96%		3,192		47.89%	10	0.15%	271	4.07%	6,665
	Humboldt		19,019		52.57%		17,025		47.06%	133	0.37%	1,994	5.51%	36,177
	Imperial		10,526		56.05%		8,197		43.65%	58	0.30%	2,329	12.40%	18,781
	Inyo		3,524		66.19%		1,782		33.47%	18	0.34%	1,742	32.72%	5,324
	Kern		46,220		51.31%		43,533		48.33%	322	0.36%	2,687	2.98%	90,075
	Kings		6,195		42.28%		8,417		57.45%	40	0.27%	-2,222	-15.17%	14,652
	Lake		4,073		64.84%		2,185		34.78%	24	0.38%	1,888	30.06%	6,282
	Lassen		2,533		42.48%		3,412		57.22%	18	0.30%	-879	-14.74%	5,963
	Los Angeles		1,260,206		55.38%		1,007,887		44.29%	7,331	0.33%	252,319	11.09%	2,275,424
	Madera		5,239		42.12%		7,162		57.58%	38	0.30%	-1,923	-15.46%	12,439
	Marin		33,792		65.94%		17,301		33.76%	151	0.30%	16,491	32.18%	51,244
	Mariposa		1,577		60.31%		1,031		39.43%	7	0.26%	546	20.88%	2,615
	Mendocino		10,327		56.94%		7,767		42.82%	43	0.24%	2,560	14.12%	18,137
	Merced		11,430		45.99%		13,366		53.78%	56	0.23%	-1,936	-7.79%	24,852
	Modoc		1,981		53.21%		1,729		46.44%	13	0.35%	252	6.77%	3,723
	Mono		673		73.79%		237		25.99%	2	0.22%	436	47.80%	912
	Monterey		29,514		59.54%		19,932		40.21%	127	0.25%	9,582	19.33%	49,573
	Napa		13,610		55.93%		10,623		43.66%	100	0.41%	2,987	12.27%	24,333
	Nevada		5,475		59.69%		3,667		39.98%	31	0.33%	1,808	19.71%	9,173
	Orange		113,510		66.82%		54,895		32.31%	1,474	0.87%	58,615	34.51%	169,879
	Placer		9,059		45.89%		10,611		53.76%	69	0.35%	-1,552	-7.87%	19,739
	Plumas		2,267		41.87%		3,127		57.75%	21	0.38%	-860	-15.88%	5,415
	Riverside		56,766		62.16%		34,098		37.34%	465	0.50%	22,668	24.82%	91,329
	Sacramento		67,686		45.10%		82,134		54.73%	260	0.17%	-14,448	-9.63%	150,080
	San Benito		3,252		59.53%		2,201		40.29%	10	0.18%	1,051	19.24%	5,463
	San Bernardino		86,263		56.88%		64,946		42.83%	443	0.29%	21,317	14.05%	151,652
	San Diego		195,742		64.47%		106,716		35.15%	1,147	0.38%	89,026	29.32%	303,605
	San Francisco		173,648		51.53%		161,766		48.01%	1,553	0.46%	11,882	3.52%	336,967
	San Joaquin		44,491		54.52%		36,941		45.27%	168	0.21%	7,550	9.25%	81,600
	San Luis Obispo		16,223		58.47%		11,407		41.11%	118	0.42%	4,816	17.36%	27,748
	San Mateo		100,049		61.04%		63,637		38.83%	217	0.13%	36,412	22.21%	163,903
	Santa Barbara		31,294		64.55%		16,925		34.91%	265	0.54%	14,369	29.64%	48,484
	Santa Clara		105,657		59.09%		72,528		40.56%	633	0.35%	33,129	18.53%	178,818
	Santa Cruz		22,109		63.58%		12,574		36.16%	93	0.26%	9,535	27.42%	34,776
	Shasta		8,833		43.84%		11,239		55.78%	77	0.38%	-2,406	-11.94%	20,149
	Sierra		638		50.55%		620		49.13%	4	0.32%	18	1.42%	1,262
	Siskiyou		6,841		49.79%		6,837		49.76%	63	0.45%	4	0.03%	13,741
	Solano		17,865		41.68%		24,903		58.10%	95	0.22%	-7,038	-16.42%	42,863
	Sonoma		33,659		61.92%		20,616		37.92%	86	0.16%	13,043	24.00%	54,361
	Stanislaus		26,695		48.60%		28,040		51.05%	192	0.35%	-1,345	-2.45%	54,927
	Sutter		6,327		62.79%		3,673		36.45%	77	0.76%	2,654	26.34%	10,077
	Tehama		4,866		53.82%		4,143		45.82%	33	0.36%	723	8.00%	9,042
	Trinity		1,447		50.42%		1,406		48.99%	17	0.59%	41	1.43%	2,870
	Tulare		26,051		52.50%		23,407		47.17%	160	0.33%	2,644	5.33%	49,618
	Tuolumne		3,619		52.12%		3,310		47.67%	14	0.21%	309	4.45%	6,943
	Ventura		26,342		49.92%		26,276		49.80%	149	0.28%	66	0.12%	52,767
	Yolo		9,347		47.99%		10,075		51.72%	57	0.29%	-728	-3.73%	19,479
	Yuba		4,782		55.76%		3,767		43.92%	27	0.32%	1,015	11.84%	8,576
Total	3,027,668	55.39%	2,420,135	44.27%	18,552	0.34%	607,533	11.12%	5,466,355

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

Contra Costa

Notes and References

Web site: Historical Voter Registration and Participation in Statewide General Elections 1910-2018 . California Secretary of State . 2022-05-05.
Although he was born in Texas and grew up in Kansas before his military career, at the time of his election Eisenhower was president of Columbia University and was, officially, a resident of New York. During his first term as president, he moved his private residence to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and officially changed his residency to Pennsylvania.
Web site: The Presidents . September 27, 2017 . David Leip . Eisenhower's home state for the 1956 Election was Pennsylvania.
Web site: 1956 Presidential General Election Results - California. 2008-08-25 . Dave Leip's U.S. Election Atlas.