1972 United States presidential election in Florida explained

See main article: 1972 United States presidential election.

Election Name:	1972 United States presidential election in Florida
Country:	Florida
Type:	presidential
Ongoing:	no
Previous Election:	1968 United States presidential election in Florida
Previous Year:	1968
Next Election:	1976 United States presidential election in Florida
Next Year:	1976
Election Date:	November 7, 1972
Image1:	Richard Nixon presidential portrait (1).jpg
Nominee1:	Richard Nixon
Party1:	Republican Party (United States)
Home State1:	California
Running Mate1:	Spiro Agnew
Electoral Vote1:	17
Popular Vote1:	1,857,759
Percentage1:	71.91%
Nominee2:	George McGovern
Party2:	Democratic Party (United States)
Home State2:	South Dakota
Running Mate2:	Sargent Shriver
Electoral Vote2:	0
Popular Vote2:	718,117
Percentage2:	27.80%
Map Size:	400px
President
Before Election:	Richard Nixon
Before Party:	Republican Party (United States)
After Election:	Richard Nixon
After Party:	Republican Party (United States)
Flag Year:	1900
Turnout:	72%

The 1972 United States presidential election in Florida was held on November 7, 1972, as part of the concurrent United States presidential election. Florida voters chose seventeen electors, or representatives to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president. Incumbent Republican President Richard Nixon won the state over the Democratic nominee, South Dakota Senator George McGovern, by a landslide margin of 44.11% and over one million votes.

After having been among the strongest parts of the Democratic "Solid South" between 1892 and 1944 – except when vehement anti-Catholicism in the Panhandle and urban Republican support gave the state's electoral votes to Herbert Hoover in 1928 – Florida turned into a Republican-leaning state at the presidential level from 1948 due to the growth of a strongly business-oriented society in, and influx of conservative Northern retirees to, newly-developed South Florida following World War II.^[1] Aided by this vote, the Republicans carried Florida in all three presidential elections from 1952 to 1960,^[2] though North Florida remained Democratic-leaning.

The civil rights movement of the 1960s saw a dramatic change in the next two elections. The classically Deep Southern north of the state, affected by turmoil over school and university desegregation,^[3] went powerfully to the staunchly conservative Republican Barry Goldwater in 1964 and then to the segregationist third-party candidacy of George Wallace in 1968. The southern urban areas that had supported the Republicans between 1948 and 1960, meanwhile, contained huge numbers of former Northern retirees hostile to Goldwater's proposed privatization of Social Security, and turned first to Lyndon Johnson before Nixon recaptured most of them for the Republicans in 1968.^[4]

The 1972 Democratic presidential primary in Florida saw Wallace easily carry the state (including every county but highly urbanized Dade) in a ballot that also featured a referendum on court-ordered busing, in which more three-fourths of voters supported a constitutional ban on the practice.^{[5] [6]} McGovern and John Lindsay were supporters of busing who accused even their rivals Hubert Humphrey and Henry M. Jackson of being covert racists for their opposition thereto, while Wallace openly campaigned against it.^[6] Wallace, the opponent most feared by Nixon, was paralyzed by an attempted assassination in May, and McGovern won the nomination from powerful support in the Midwestern and Pacific states. Once McGovern won the nomination, he offered Florida Governor Reubin Askew the vice-presidential slot, but Askew turned the position down.^[7]

As of 2020, this is the last election in which Gadsden County voted for a Republican presidential candidate, and the only election in which a Republican won all of the state's counties.^[8] 78% of white voters supported Nixon while 22% supported McGovern.

Primary elections

Democratic

George Wallace would win a majority of the Democratic Primary vote in all of the counties in the state.^[9]

Republican

Richard Nixon would end up winning a majority of the vote in all counties except for Desoto County.^[10]

Results

Results by county

County	Richard Nixon Republican		George McGovern Democratic		Various candidates Write-ins		Margin		Total votes cast
		%		%		%		%
	Alachua		22,536		56.54%		17,245		43.26%		80		0.20%		5,291		13.28%		39,861
	Baker		1,943		83.64%		379		16.32%		1		0.04%		1,564		67.32%		2,323
	Bay		20,245		83.80%		3,914		16.20%						16,331		67.60%		24,159
	Bradford		3,652		73.67%		1,217		24.55%		88		1.78%		2,435		49.12%		4,957
	Brevard		62,773		78.73%		16,854		21.14%		106		0.13%		45,919		57.59%		79,733
	Broward		196,528		72.41%		74,127		27.31%		754		0.28%		122,401		45.10%		271,409
	Calhoun		2,069		81.68%		461		18.20%		3		0.12%		1,608		63.48%		2,533
	Charlotte		12,888		76.64%		3,874		23.04%		55		0.33%		9,014		53.60%		16,817
	Citrus		8,848		77.22%		2,607		22.75%		3		0.03%		6,241		54.47%		11,458
	Clay		10,467		85.53%		1,748		14.28%		23		0.19%		8,719		71.25%		12,238
	Collier		13,501		80.63%		3,201		19.12%		42		0.25%		10,300		61.51%		16,744
	Columbia		6,723		80.16%		1,664		19.84%						5,059		60.32%		8,387
	DeSoto		2,958		77.58%		852		22.34%		3		0.08%		2,106		55.24%		3,813
	Dixie		1,628		81.52%		367		18.38%		2		0.10%		1,261		63.14%		1,997
	Duval		122,154		72.19%		46,530		27.50%		520		0.31%		75,624		44.69%		169,204
	Escambia		56,071		79.57%		14,078		19.98%		315		0.45%		41,993		59.59%		70,464
	Flagler		1,409		74.08%		493		25.92%						916		48.16%		1,902
	Franklin		2,277		82.14%		490		17.68%		5		0.18%		1,787		64.46%		2,772
	Gadsden		5,995		61.01%		3,829		38.97%		2		0.02%		2,166		22.04%		9,826
	Gilchrist		1,306		83.45%		247		15.78%		12		0.77%		1,059		67.67%		1,565
	Glades		1,019		78.81%		253		19.57%		21		1.62%		766		59.24%		1,293
	Gulf		2,628		78.54%		713		21.31%		5		0.15%		1,915		57.23%		3,346
	Hamilton		1,741		73.34%		626		26.37%		7		0.29%		1,115		46.97%		2,374
	Hardee		3,563		84.57%		647		15.36%		3		0.07%		2,916		69.21%		4,213
	Hendry		2,763		78.85%		739		21.09%		2		0.06%		2,024		57.76%		3,504
	Hernando		6,296		74.87%		2,110		25.09%		3		0.04%		4,186		49.78%		8,409
	Highlands		9,645		79.49%		2,458		20.26%		30		0.25%		7,187		59.23%		12,133
	Hillsborough		106,956		70.13%		45,305		29.71%		249		0.16%		61,651		40.42%		152,510
	Holmes		3,819		92.51%		309		7.49%						3,510		85.02%		4,128
	Indian River		11,741		77.85%		3,316		21.99%		25		0.17%		8,425		55.86%		15,082
	Jackson		8,904		79.99%		2,220		19.94%		8		0.07%		6,684		60.05%		11,132
	Jefferson		2,108		66.04%		1,049		32.86%		35		1.10%		1,059		33.18%		3,192
	Lafayette		1,060		85.69%		173		13.99%		4		0.32%		887		71.70%		1,237
	Lake		23,079		82.63%		4,803		17.20%		48		0.17%		18,276		65.43%		27,930
	Lee		36,738		79.46%		9,404		20.34%		93		0.20%		27,334		59.12%		46,235
	Leon		27,479		63.72%		15,555		36.07%		92		0.21%		11,924		27.65%		43,126
	Levy		3,273		79.12%		862		20.84%		2		0.05%		2,411		58.28%		4,137
	Liberty		1,199		84.38%		222		15.62%						977		68.76%		1,421
	Madison		3,236		72.92%		1,187		26.75%		15		0.34%		2,049		46.17%		4,438
	Manatee		32,664		79.79%		8,058		19.68%		218		0.53%		24,606		60.11%		40,940
	Marion		19,505		78.18%		5,397		21.63%		46		0.18%		14,108		56.55%		24,948
	Martin		11,296		78.83%		2,946		20.56%		88		0.61%		8,350		58.27%		14,330
	Miami-Dade		256,529		58.87%		177,693		40.78%		1,541		0.35%		78,836		18.09%		435,763
	Monroe		11,688		72.18%		4,469		27.60%		36		0.22%		7,219		44.58%		16,193
	Nassau		5,078		79.44%		1,293		20.23%		21		0.33%		3,785		59.21%		6,392
	Okaloosa		23,303		88.64%		2,843		10.81%		144		0.55%		20,460		77.83%		26,290
	Okeechobee		2,581		80.58%		621		19.39%		1		0.03%		1,960		61.19%		3,203
	Orange		94,516		79.57%		23,840		20.07%		421		0.35%		70,676		59.50%		118,777
	Osceola		9,320		82.94%		1,875		16.69%		42		0.37%		7,445		66.25%		11,237
	Palm Beach		108,670		72.35%		40,825		27.18%		708		0.47%		67,845		45.17%		150,203
	Pasco		29,249		71.91%		11,330		27.85%		97		0.24%		17,919		44.06%		40,676
	Pinellas		179,541		69.83%		77,197		30.02%		378		0.15%		102,344		39.81%		257,116
	Polk		60,748		78.42%		16,419		21.20%		293		0.38%		44,329		57.22%		77,460
	Putnam		8,741		74.61%		2,901		24.76%		74		0.63%		5,840		49.85%		11,716
	St. John's		8,919		77.48%		2,549		22.14%		43		0.37%		6,370		55.34%		11,511
	St. Lucie		14,258		75.40%		4,593		24.29%		59		0.31%		9,665		51.11%		18,910
	Santa Rosa		12,669		88.94%		1,491		10.47%		85		0.60%		11,178		78.47%		14,245
	Sarasota		48,939		79.95%		12,235		19.99%		36		0.06%		36,704		59.96%		61,210
	Seminole		27,658		80.84%		6,503		19.01%		51		0.15%		21,155		61.83%		34,212
	Sumter		3,695		76.71%		1,107		22.98%		15		0.31%		2,588		53.73%		4,817
	Suwannee		4,435		80.77%		1,027		18.70%		29		0.53%		3,408		62.07%		5,491
	Taylor		4,109		84.50%		754		15.50%						3,355		69.00%		4,863
	Union		1,314		83.85%		253		16.15%						1,061		67.70%		1,567
	Volusia		52,656		70.60%		21,637		29.01%		290		0.39%		31,019		41.59%		74,583
	Wakulla		2,466		82.01%		539		17.92%		2		0.07%		1,927		64.09%		3,007
	Walton		6,217		85.93%		988		13.66%		30		0.41%		5,229		72.27%		7,235
	Washington		3,777		86.11%		606		13.82%		3		0.07%		3,171		72.29%		4,386
Totals	1,857,759	71.91%	718,117	27.80%	7,407	0.29%	1,139,642	44.11%	2,583,283

Counties that flipped from American Independent to Republican

• Baker
• Bay
• Bradford
• Calhoun
• Clay
• Columbia
• Dixie
• Desoto
• Duval
• Escambia
• Flagler
• Franklin
• Gilchrist
• Glades
• Gadsden
• Gulf
• Hamilton
• Hendry
• Hernando
• Hardee
• Holmes
• Jackson
• Jefferson
• Lafayette
• Leon
• Levy
• Liberty
• Madison
• Marion
• Nassau
• Okaloosa
• Okeechobee
• Putnam
• Polk
• St. Johns
• Santa Rosa
• Sumter
• Suwannee
• Taylor
• Union
• Walton
• Washington
• Wakulla

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

• Alachua
• Dade
• Monroe

Results by congressional district

This is a table of the results by congressional district for the general election. Nixon won the majority of the vote in all of the congressional districts. The source cited does not include the results for third parties in that year.^[11]

District	Nixon	McGovern
	1st		83.7%		16.3%
	2nd		68.6%		31.4%
	3rd		69.8%		30.2%
	4th		76.5%		23.5%
	5th		76.3%		23.7%
	6th		69.4%		30.6%
	7th		69.7%		30.3%
	8th		79.4%		20.6%
	9th		80.5%		19.5%
	10th		79.2%		2.08%
	11th		74.2%		25.8%
	12th		72%		28%
	13th		55.5%		44.5%
	14th		58.1%		41.9%
	15th		63.4%		36.6%

Analysis

Incumbent President Nixon overwhelmingly won the state of Florida with 71.91% of the vote, carrying all of Florida's 67 counties (the last time any presidential candidate has won every single county in the state) and seventeen electoral votes.^[12] This made Florida about 21% more Republican than the nation-at-large. Nixon's victory in Florida made it his fifth strongest state after Mississippi, Georgia, Oklahoma and Alabama.^[13] McGovern reached 40% of the vote only in Dade County with its substantial Jewish and Latin populations, plus Alachua County with its large population of liberal college students who were a major base for his candidacy – and the Democratic candidate only reached thirty percent of the vote in four other counties. Nixon's message enabled him to capture virtually all of the Wallace vote from 1968, as shown by the fact that pineywoods Holmes County, which had been Wallace's fifth-strongest county in 1968,^[14] was to be Nixon's fourth-best county in 1972 with over 92% of the vote.^[15]

In addition to hostility towards busing and the "acid, amnesty and abortion" policies which Nixon consistently accused McGovern of^[16] despite eventual running mate Sargent Shriver being firmly opposed to abortion, the Democratic campaign in Florida was also crippled by McGovern's policy of normalizing relationships with Fidel Castro's Cuba. Relationships with Cuba were a hotbed issue in the most liberal and least Southern region of the state around Miami,^[17] and drove even many voters who had supported Humphrey in 1968 to Nixon and the Republican Party.^[18] This allowed the GOP to carry Monroe County, which had consistently voted Democratic since 1888.^[19]

Works cited

• Book: Black . Earl . Earl Black (political scientist) . Black . Merle . Merle Black . The Vital South: How Presidents Are Elected . . 1992 . 0674941306.

Notes and References

1. See Doherty, Herbert J. (junior); 'Liberal and Conservative Politics in Florida'; The Journal of Politics, nol. 14, no. 3 (August 1952), pp. 403-417
2. Strong, Donald S.; 'The Presidential Election in the South, 1952'; The Journal of Politics, vol. 17, no. 3, pp. 343-389
3. Encyclopedia of African American History: 5-Volume Set, p. 228
4. Phillips, Kevin P.; The Emerging Republican Majority, p. 224
5. Lassiter, Matthew D.; The Silent Majority: Suburban Politics in the Sunbelt South, pp. 310-311
6. Small, Melvin; A Companion to Richard M. Nixon, chapter 9
7. Young, Josh; And Give Up Showbiz?: How Fred Levin Beat Big Tobacco, Avoided Two Murder Prosecutions, Became a Chief of Ghana, Earned Boxing Manager of the Year, and Transformed American Law, p. 183
8. Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016
9. Web site: Our Campaigns - FL US President - D Primary Race - Mar 14, 1972. 2021-07-30. www.ourcampaigns.com.
10. Web site: Our Campaigns - FL US President - R Primary Race - Mar 14, 1972. 2021-07-30. www.ourcampaigns.com.
11. Web site: 1972 United States Presidential Election, Results by Congressional District . July 9, 2024 . Western Washington University.
12. Web site: 1972 Presidential General Election Results – Florida. April 25, 2016.
13. Web site: 1972 Presidential Election Statistics. Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. 2018-03-05.
14. Dave Leip's U.S. Election Atlas; 1968 Presidential Election Statistics
15. Dave Leip's U.S. Election Atlas; 1972 Presidential Election Statistics
16. Rae, Nicol C.; Southern Democrats, pp. 48-49
17. Robertson, Andrew; Encyclopedia of U.S. Political History, p. 195
18. Adams, Florence P. and Rodriguez David; Latinos and Local Representation: Changing Realities, Emerging Theories, p. 56
19. Menendez, Albert J.; The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, 1868-2004, p. 164-165