See main article: 1972 United States presidential election.
| Election Name: | 1972 United States presidential election in Nevada |
| Country: | Nevada |
| Flag Year: | 1929 |
| Type: | presidential |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 1968 United States presidential election in Nevada |
| Previous Year: | 1968 |
| Next Election: | 1976 United States presidential election in Nevada |
| 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: | 3 |
| Popular Vote1: | 115,750 |
| Percentage1: | 63.68% |
| Nominee2: | George McGovern |
| Party2: | Democratic Party (United States) |
| Home State2: | South Dakota |
| Running Mate2: | Sargent Shriver |
| Electoral Vote2: | 0 |
| Popular Vote2: | 66,016 |
| Percentage2: | 36.32% |
| Map Size: | x275px |
| President | |
| Before Election: | Richard Nixon |
| Before Party: | Republican Party (United States) |
| After Election: | Richard Nixon |
| After Party: | Republican Party (United States) |
The 1972 United States presidential election in Nevada took place on November 7, 1972. All fifty states and the District of Columbia were part of the 1972 United States presidential election. State voters chose three electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.
Since being won for the third time by William Jennings Bryan whose populism had attracted a state heavily dependent upon silver mining,[1] Nevada had been a consistent bellwether swing state, although it had been trending Republican since World War II as air conditioning led to the development of Las Vegas as a “Sun Belt” city. Richard Nixon had narrowly lost this heavily Catholic state to John F. Kennedy in 1960, but would comfortably defeat both Hubert Humphrey and George Wallace in 1968. However, the Democrats had rebounded in 1970 to regain the governorship, although the party lost the attorney general position for the first time since 1890.[2]
Nevada held no Democratic primary in 1972, and once South Dakota Senator George McGovern secured the nomination, every poll suggested that incumbent President Nixon would win the state very easily,[3] typically by around a two-to-one margin.[4]
Nixon carried Nevada with 63.68% of the vote to McGovern's 36.32%, a victory margin of 27.36%. In a state that would reflect McGovern's national results, the Democratic nominee did not win a single county in Nevada, making Nixon only the second Republican after Theodore Roosevelt in 1904 to sweep all Nevada's counties.[5]
| County | Richard Nixon Republican | George McGovern Democratic | Margin | Total votes cast | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | % | % | |||||||||||||
| Carson City | 5,396 | 71.79% | 2,120 | 28.21% | 3,276 | 43.58% | 7,516 | ||||||||
| Churchill | 2,970 | 74.10% | 1,038 | 25.90% | 1,932 | 48.20% | 4,008 | ||||||||
| Clark | 53,101 | 59.06% | 36,807 | 40.94% | 16,294 | 18.12% | 89,908 | ||||||||
| Douglas | 2,898 | 74.67% | 983 | 25.33% | 1,915 | 49.34% | 3,881 | ||||||||
| Elko | 3,886 | 72.59% | 1,467 | 27.41% | 2,419 | 45.18% | 5,353 | ||||||||
| Esmeralda | 273 | 68.25% | 127 | 31.75% | 146 | 36.50% | 400 | ||||||||
| Eureka | 371 | 72.75% | 139 | 27.25% | 232 | 45.50% | 510 | ||||||||
| Humboldt | 1,659 | 69.94% | 713 | 30.06% | 946 | 39.88% | 2,372 | ||||||||
| Lander | 798 | 63.03% | 468 | 36.97% | 330 | 26.06% | 1,266 | ||||||||
| Lincoln | 841 | 68.77% | 382 | 31.23% | 459 | 37.54% | 1,223 | ||||||||
| Lyon | 2,813 | 74.58% | 959 | 25.42% | 1,854 | 49.16% | 3,772 | ||||||||
| Mineral | 2,111 | 73.32% | 768 | 26.68% | 1,343 | 46.64% | 2,879 | ||||||||
| Nye | 1,287 | 61.61% | 802 | 38.39% | 485 | 23.22% | 2,089 | ||||||||
| Pershing | 853 | 70.03% | 365 | 29.97% | 488 | 40.06% | 1,218 | ||||||||
| Storey | 508 | 69.21% | 226 | 30.79% | 282 | 38.42% | 734 | ||||||||
| Washoe | 33,539 | 66.22% | 17,106 | 33.78% | 16,433 | 32.44% | 50,645 | ||||||||
| White Pine | 2,446 | 61.27% | 1,546 | 38.73% | 900 | 22.54% | 3,992 | ||||||||
| Totals | 115,750 | 63.68% | 66,016 | 36.32% | 49,734 | 27.36% | 181,766 | ||||||||