1956 United States presidential election in Wisconsin explained

See main article: article and 1956 United States presidential election.

Election Name:	1956 United States presidential election in Wisconsin
Country:	Wisconsin
Flag Year:	1913
Type:	presidential
Ongoing:	no
Previous Election:	1952 United States presidential election in Wisconsin
Previous Year:	1952
Next Election:	1960 United States presidential election in Wisconsin
Next Year:	1960
Election Date:	November 6, 1956
Image1:	Dwight David Eisenhower 1952 crop.jpg
Nominee1:	Dwight D. Eisenhower
Party1:	Republican Party (United States)
Home State1:	Pennsylvania
Running Mate1:	Richard Nixon
Electoral Vote1:	12
Popular Vote1:	954,844
Percentage1:	61.58%
Nominee2:	Adlai Stevenson
Party2:	Democratic Party (United States)
Home State2:	Illinois
Running Mate2:	Estes Kefauver
Electoral Vote2:	0
Popular Vote2:	586,768
Percentage2:	37.84%
Map Size:	315px
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 Wisconsin was held on November 6, 1956 as part of the 1956 United States presidential election. State voters chose 12 electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Politics in Wisconsin since the Populist movement had been dominated by the Republican Party.^[1] The Democratic Party became uncompetitive away from the Lake Michigan coast as the upper classes, along with the majority of workers who followed them, fled from William Jennings Bryan's agrarian and free silver sympathies.^[2] Although the state did develop a strong Socialist Party to provide opposition to the GOP, Wisconsin developed the direct Republican primary in 1903 and this ultimately created competition between the "League" under Robert M. La Follette, and the conservative "Regular" faction.^[3] This ultimately would develop into the Wisconsin Progressive Party in the late 1930s, which was opposed to the conservative German Democrats and to the national Republican Party, and allied with Franklin D. Roosevelt at the federal level.

During the two wartime elections, the formerly Democratic German counties in the east of the state – which had been powerfully opposed to the Civil War because they saw it as a "Yankee" war and opposed the military draft instituted during it^[4] – viewed Communism as a much greater threat to America than Nazism and consequently opposed President Roosevelt's war effort.^[5] Consequently, these historically Democratic counties became virtually the most Republican in the entire state, and became a major support base for populist conservative Senator Joe McCarthy, who became notorious for his investigations into Communists inside the American government. The state's populace's opposition to Communism and the Korean War turned Wisconsin strongly to Republican nominee Dwight D. Eisenhower in the 1952 presidential election.

For the 1956 rematch, Democratic nominee Adlai Stevenson II began by campaigning against Eisenhower's handling of farm problems, at a time when most of the interior United States was suffering from a severe drought.^[6] The Democrat would then attack Eisenhower as a "weak" President when the two were touring the Midwest during September.^[7]

Early polls showed Eisenhower leading the state despite farm unrest, owing to the unpopularity of Stevenson.^[8] No later poll was taken, but evidence was that state's farmers were not trending to Stevenson at all, and that the Suez Crisis would hurt rather than help Stevenson.^[9]

Polls

Source	Rating	As of
The Boston Daily Globe^[10]		October 23, 1956
Fort Worth Star-Telegram^[11]		November 2, 1956
Corpus Christi Times^[12]		November 3, 1956
The Philadelphia Inquirer^[13]		November 4, 1956
The Salt Lake Tribune^[14]		November 4, 1956

Results

1956 United States presidential election in Wisconsin^[15] ^[16]
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Republican	Dwight D. Eisenhower (incumbent)	954,844	61.58%	12
	Democratic	Adlai Stevenson	586,768	37.84%	0
	Independent	T. Coleman Andrews	6,918	0.45%	0
	Socialist	Darlington Hoopes	754	0.05%	0
	Socialist Labor	Eric Hass	710	0.05%	0
	Socialist Workers	Farrell Dobbs	564	0.04%	0
Totals			1,550,558	100.00%	12

Results by county

County	Dwight D. Eisenhower Republican		Adlai Stevenson Democratic		T. Coleman Andrews Independent		All Others Various		Margin		Total votes cast
		%		%		%		%		%
	Adams		1,854		59.48%		1,244		39.91%		15		0.48%		4		0.13%		610		19.57%		3,117
	Ashland		4,121		52.70%		3,677		47.03%		16		0.20%		5		0.06%		444		5.67%		7,819
	Barron		8,634		61.12%		5,419		38.36%		44		0.31%		29		0.21%		3,215		22.76%		14,126
	Bayfield		3,096		53.32%		2,691		46.35%		8		0.14%		11		0.19%		405		6.97%		5,806
	Brown		32,878		70.24%		13,642		29.14%		246		0.53%		42		0.09%		19,236		41.10%		46,808
	Buffalo		3,387		59.83%		2,266		40.03%		7		0.12%		1		0.02%		1,121		19.80%		5,661
	Burnett		2,198		52.36%		1,986		47.31%		7		0.17%		7		0.17%		212		5.05%		4,198
	Calumet		6,166		74.22%		2,099		25.26%		38		0.46%		5		0.06%		4,067		48.96%		8,308
	Chippewa		9,781		59.42%		6,617		40.20%		58		0.35%		5		0.03%		3,164		19.22%		16,461
	Clark		7,941		62.26%		4,765		37.36%		39		0.31%		9		0.07%		3,176		24.90%		12,754
	Columbia		10,120		66.01%		5,158		33.65%		45		0.29%		7		0.05%		4,962		32.36%		15,330
	Crawford		4,123		61.71%		2,522		37.75%		31		0.46%		5		0.07%		1,601		23.96%		6,681
	Dane		38,955		51.11%		36,891		48.41%		295		0.39%		72		0.09%		2,064		2.70%		76,213
	Dodge		17,569		72.10%		6,704		27.51%		76		0.31%		17		0.07%		10,865		44.59%		24,366
	Door		6,722		77.96%		1,859		21.56%		32		0.37%		9		0.10%		4,863		56.40%		8,622
	Douglas		9,183		44.79%		11,276		55.00%		22		0.11%		21		0.10%		-2,093		-10.21%		20,502
	Dunn		6,401		60.36%		4,189		39.50%		11		0.10%		3		0.03%		2,212		20.86%		10,604
	Eau Claire		13,122		58.48%		9,276		41.34%		33		0.15%		8		0.04%		3,846		17.14%		22,439
	Florence		1,003		57.94%		723		41.77%		4		0.23%		1		0.06%		280		16.17%		1,731
	Fond du Lac		21,496		72.46%		7,940		26.76%		207		0.70%		23		0.08%		13,556		45.70%		29,666
	Forest		2,039		57.03%		1,527		42.71%		8		0.22%		1		0.03%		512		14.32%		3,575
	Grant		11,648		68.69%		5,208		30.71%		92		0.54%		10		0.06%		6,440		37.98%		16,958
	Green		7,114		66.00%		3,614		33.53%		43		0.40%		8		0.07%		3,500		32.47%		10,779
	Green Lake		5,441		76.49%		1,643		23.10%		25		0.35%		4		0.06%		3,798		53.39%		7,113
	Iowa		5,201		61.79%		3,176		37.73%		36		0.43%		4		0.05%		2,025		24.06%		8,417
	Iron		1,930		46.22%		2,226		53.30%		14		0.34%		6		0.14%		-296		-7.08%		4,176
	Jackson		3,614		56.66%		2,755		43.20%		7		0.11%		2		0.03%		859		13.46%		6,378
	Jefferson		13,357		67.02%		6,452		32.37%		94		0.47%		28		0.14%		6,905		34.65%		19,931
	Juneau		5,135		67.58%		2,428		31.96%		30		0.39%		5		0.07%		2,707		35.62%		7,598
	Kenosha		21,367		55.08%		17,094		44.06%		269		0.69%		66		0.17%		4,273		11.02%		38,796
	Kewaunee		5,106		68.00%		2,364		31.48%		31		0.41%		8		0.11%		2,742		36.52%		7,509
	La Crosse		18,264		61.66%		11,258		38.01%		73		0.25%		27		0.09%		7,006		23.65%		29,622
	Lafayette		4,733		59.33%		3,212		40.26%		30		0.38%		3		0.04%		1,521		19.07%		7,978
	Langlade		5,004		63.82%		2,804		35.76%		28		0.36%		5		0.06%		2,200		28.06%		7,841
	Lincoln		6,329		67.74%		2,880		30.83%		118		1.26%		16		0.17%		3,449		36.91%		9,343
	Manitowoc		18,078		61.91%		10,800		36.99%		291		1.00%		30		0.10%		7,278		24.92%		29,199
	Marathon		22,586		59.36%		15,301		40.21%		126		0.33%		38		0.10%		7,285		19.15%		38,051
	Marinette		8,874		63.12%		5,113		36.37%		63		0.45%		10		0.07%		3,761		26.75%		14,060
	Marquette		2,796		73.87%		975		25.76%		14		0.37%		0		0.00%		1,821		48.11%		3,785
	Milwaukee		227,253		55.79%		177,286		43.53%		1,783		0.44%		996		0.24%		49,967		12.26%		407,318
	Monroe		7,460		63.16%		4,311		36.50%		27		0.23%		13		0.11%		3,149		26.66%		11,811
	Oconto		6,836		64.95%		3,632		34.51%		51		0.48%		6		0.06%		3,204		30.44%		10,525
	Oneida		6,261		64.89%		3,328		34.49%		51		0.53%		8		0.08%		2,933		30.40%		9,648
	Outagamie		26,090		76.56%		7,725		22.67%		236		0.69%		26		0.08%		18,365		53.89%		34,077
	Ozaukee		9,808		69.63%		4,139		29.38%		126		0.89%		13		0.09%		5,669		40.25%		14,086
	Pepin		1,975		65.51%		1,040		34.49%		0		0.00%		0		0.00%		935		31.02%		3,015
	Pierce		5,782		61.13%		3,644		38.53%		25		0.26%		7		0.07%		2,138		22.60%		9,458
	Polk		5,894		54.04%		4,985		45.71%		14		0.13%		13		0.12%		909		8.33%		10,906
	Portage		8,320		54.08%		7,010		45.56%		41		0.27%		15		0.10%		1,310		8.52%		15,386
	Price		4,028		58.82%		2,778		40.57%		27		0.39%		15		0.22%		1,250		18.25%		6,848
	Racine		31,968		58.21%		22,646		41.24%		248		0.45%		57		0.10%		9,322		16.97%		54,919
	Richland		5,062		64.29%		2,783		35.34%		26		0.33%		3		0.04%		2,279		28.95%		7,874
	Rock		28,980		67.42%		13,834		32.18%		148		0.34%		25		0.06%		15,146		35.24%		42,987
	Rusk		3,433		53.68%		2,929		45.80%		24		0.38%		9		0.14%		504		7.88%		6,395
	Sauk		10,644		66.46%		5,292		33.04%		61		0.38%		19		0.12%		5,352		33.42%		16,016
	Sawyer		2,823		64.54%		1,520		34.75%		26		0.59%		5		0.11%		1,303		29.79%		4,374
	Shawano		9,388		71.54%		3,675		28.01%		54		0.41%		5		0.04%		5,713		43.53%		13,122
	Sheboygan		22,077		59.91%		14,540		39.46%		182		0.49%		53		0.14%		7,537		20.45%		36,852
	St. Croix		6,956		55.72%		5,499		44.05%		21		0.17%		8		0.06%		1,457		11.67%		12,484
	Taylor		3,843		57.75%		2,759		41.46%		35		0.53%		17		0.26%		1,084		16.29%		6,654
	Trempealeau		5,476		54.25%		4,602		45.59%		9		0.09%		7		0.07%		874		8.66%		10,094
	Vernon		6,200		55.66%		4,923		44.19%		15		0.13%		2		0.02%		1,277		11.47%		11,140
	Vilas		3,683		74.07%		1,267		25.48%		19		0.38%		3		0.06%		2,416		48.59%		4,972
	Walworth		16,696		76.62%		4,922		22.59%		152		0.70%		20		0.09%		11,774		54.03%		21,790
	Washburn		2,798		58.88%		1,935		40.72%		14		0.29%		5		0.11%		863		18.16%		4,752
	Washington		12,167		72.93%		4,447		26.66%		59		0.35%		10		0.06%		7,720		46.27%		16,683
	Waukesha		35,212		68.93%		15,496		30.33%		313		0.61%		63		0.12%		19,716		38.60%		51,084
	Waupaca		11,798		78.64%		3,133		20.88%		66		0.44%		6		0.04%		8,665		57.76%		15,003
	Waushara		4,717		76.99%		1,387		22.64%		20		0.33%		3		0.05%		3,330		54.35%		6,127
	Winnebago		28,759		71.44%		11,115		27.61%		353		0.88%		27		0.07%		17,644		43.83%		40,254
	Wood		15,091		69.92%		6,412		29.71%		66		0.31%		14		0.06%		8,679		40.21%		21,583
Totals	954,844	61.58%	586,768	37.84%	6,918	0.45%	2,028	0.13%	368,076	23.74%	1,550,558

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

• Kenosha

Electors

These were the names of the electors on each ticket.^[15]

Analysis

As it turned out, despite the doubts of the Boston Daily Globe Eisenhower slightly improved upon his 1952 margin in Wisconsin: although he did lose some support in the farming areas, he gained upon his 1952 vote in Wisconsin's cities due to increased Catholic support, and carried all but two northern counties. Wisconsin’s result was 8.34% more Republican than the nation-at-large., this remains the last time a Republican has carried Wisconsin by double digits, as the state would trend Democratic beginning with the 1958 midterm elections, although Democrats have subsequently won Wisconsin by double digits just three times – Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964, Bill Clinton in 1996 and Barack Obama in 2008.^[17] This is also the last election as of 2020 in which Ashland County, Dane County, Milwaukee County, and Portage County voted for a Republican presidential candidate.^[18]

See also

• United States presidential elections in Wisconsin

Notes and References

1. Book: Burnham, Walter Dean. The Evolution of American Electoral Systems. 0313213798. 178–179. The System of 1896: An Analysis.
2. Book: Sundquist, James. Politics and Policy: The Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson Years. 0815719094. 526.
3. Book: Hansen, John Mark. Governing in a Polarized Age: Elections, Parties, and Political Representation in America. Shigeo. Hirano. Snyder jr. James M.. 978-1-107-09509-0. Gerber. Alan S.. 165–168. Parties within Parties: Parties, Factions, and Coordinated Politics, 1900-1980. Schickler. Eric.
4. Book: [[Kevin Phillips (political commentator)|Phillips]], Kevin P.. The Emerging Republican Majority. 978-0-691-16324-6. 381–382, 414.
5. Phillips. The Emerging Republican Majority, pp. 387-388
6. News: Blair. William M.. August 30, 1956. Stevenson Asserts G.O.P. Fosters Farm Depression: Broken Promises Charged Stevenson Urges Action Stevenson Accuses Republicans of Fostering a Farm Depression — 3 States Are Pivotal. 1. The New York Times.
7. News: Salisbury. Harrison E.. September 27, 1956. Stevenson Says Eisenhower Fails to Lead Country: In Kansas City, He Asserts the Question Is, "Who's in Charge Here?" Decries Farm Policy: Nominee Charges That the President Defaulted on 90% Parity Pledgeedition=Special to The New York Times. 1. The New York Times.
8. News: White . William S. . October 1, 1956 . G.O.P. Retaining Wisconsin Lead; Democrats Gain: Survey Shows Farm Unrest and Spotty Unemployment Are Having Influence . Special to The New York Times . 1 . The New York Times.
9. News: King. Seth H.. November 1, 1956. Major Farm Vote Still Republican: Democrats Fail to Stir Big Revolt – May Lose Votes on Crisis in Mideast. 44. The New York Times.
10. News: Cornell. Douglas B.. October 23, 1956. But Smaller Margin Seen: "Old Faithful" Wisconsin Expected To Go GOP Again. 26. The Boston Daily Globe.
11. News: Final Babson Poll Shows Eisenhower Winning Easily. Fort Worth Star-Telegram. CTS. November 2, 1956. 22.
12. News: Trohan. Walter. November 3, 1956. Hour of Decision Near: Eisenhower Lead Increasing Daily. 4. Corpus Christi Times. Chicago Tribune Service.
13. News: November 4, 1956. What the Polls Show — Eisenhower Victory Is Indicated across Nation. B 1, B 3. The Philadelphia Inquirer.
14. News: Lawrence. W.H.. November 4, 1956. "Times Team" Counts Up 20-State GOP Margin. A 11. The Salt Lake Tribune.
15. Wisconsin Historical Society, Statement of Board of State Canvassers for President, Vice President and Presidential Electors - General Election - 1956
16. Book: The Wisconsin Blue Book 1958. Wisconsin Legislative Reference Library. Vote For President And Vice President By Counties. Madison, Wisconsin. 766.
17. Web site: Dave Leip's U.S. Election Atlas. Presidential General Election Results Comparison – Wisconsin.
18. Sullivan. Robert David. How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century. America Magazine. The National Catholic Review. June 29, 2016.