1972 United States presidential election in Oklahoma explained

See main article: 1972 United States presidential election.

Election Name:	1972 United States presidential election in Oklahoma
Country:	Oklahoma
Flag Year:	1941
Type:	presidential
Ongoing:	no
Previous Election:	1968 United States presidential election in Oklahoma
Previous Year:	1968
Next Election:	1976 United States presidential election in Oklahoma
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:	8
Popular Vote1:	759,025
Percentage1:	73.70%
Nominee2:	George McGovern
Party2:	Democratic Party (United States)
Home State2:	South Dakota
Running Mate2:	Sargent Shriver
Electoral Vote2:	0
Popular Vote2:	247,147
Percentage2:	24.00%
Map Size:	350px
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 Oklahoma was held on November 7, 1972, as part of the 1972 United States presidential election. Voters chose eight electors, or representatives to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Oklahoma voted in a landslide for incumbent Republican President Richard Nixon over his Democratic challenger George McGovern. Nixon's winning margin of 49.70 percentage points made Oklahoma his third-strongest state, behind Mississippi and Georgia,^[1] and 26.55 percentage points more Republican than the nation at-large. Although in the twenty-first century Oklahoma has rivaled Wyoming, Utah, Idaho and increasingly West Virginia as the most Republican state in the nation, no presidential candidate in Oklahoma has ever equaled Nixon's margin of victory. Indeed, in the eleven presidential elections since this one, only twice has any state been carried by a larger percentage margin – both by Ronald Reagan in Utah, as part of the 1980 and 1984 elections.

Nixon carried with over sixty percent of the vote all seventy-seven counties in the state, four years after he had won Oklahoma despite finishing behind both Democrat Hubert Humphrey and American Independent George Wallace in Atoka, Choctaw, Love, McCurtain and Pushmataha counties.^[2] American Independent John G. Schmitz was the only other candidate on the ballot, and he received 2.30 percent of the vote, although managing over eleven percent in the Panhandle county of Cimarron. Nixon's feat of winning every county in Oklahoma would not be achieved by any presidential candidate again until George W. Bush did so in 2004, since when every county has stayed in the GOP column in presidential elections. This was the last time until 2004 that Hughes County and Haskell County voted Republican in a presidential election. Carter, Cotton, Harmon, Jackson, Jefferson, Murray, and Tillman counties voted Republican for the first time since 1928; Bryan, Choctaw, Coal, Johnston, McCurtain, and Love counties for the first time ever; and Latimer and Pittsburg counties since 1920.

In archconservative Oklahoma, McGovern was uniformly viewed as a left-wing extremist because of his support for busing and civil rights, plus his opposition to the Vietnam War, support for granting amnesty to draft dodgers^[3] and support for a thousand-dollar giveaway to each American as a solution to poverty.^[4] Many, especially Republican campaigners, also believed McGovern would legalise abortion and illicit drugs if he were elected^[5] – despite the fact that his running mate Sargent Shriver was firmly anti-abortion.

Consequently, even the most loyal Southern Democrats from the southeastern part of the state almost completely deserted their traditional party for Nixon: Bryan, Coal, Johnston, and the above-mentioned Choctaw, Love and McCurtain counties deserted their traditional Democratic Party for the first time ever.^[6] Nixon also almost completely captured the twenty percent of Oklahoman voters who had supported Wallace in 1968:^[7] exit polls suggested he won them over McGovern by a ratio of ten to one, and in the two Wallace counties of Pushmataha and Atoka Nixon totaled over seventy percent of the vote which increased from around thirty percent in 1968.

Results

1972 United States presidential election in Oklahoma^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Republican	Richard Nixon (incumbent)	759,025	73.70%	8
	Democratic	George McGovern	247,147	24.00%	0
	American Independent	John G. Schmitz	23,728	2.30%	0
Totals			1,029,900	100.00%	9
Voter turnout					—

Results by county

County	Richard Nixon Republican		George McGovern Democratic		John G. Schmitz American Independent		Margin		Total votes cast
		%		%		%		%
	Adair		4,720		73.12%		1,601		24.80%		134		2.08%		3,119		48.32%		6,455
	Alfalfa		3,208		81.48%		641		16.28%		88		2.24%		2,567		65.20%		3,937
	Atoka		2,905		72.86%		993		24.91%		89		2.23%		1,912		47.95%		3,987
	Beaver		2,562		80.41%		522		16.38%		102		3.20%		2,040		64.03%		3,186
	Beckham		4,472		71.72%		1,608		25.79%		155		2.49%		2,864		45.93%		6,235
	Blaine		3,958		77.73%		963		18.91%		171		3.36%		2,995		58.82%		5,092
	Bryan		5,397		61.91%		3,144		36.06%		177		2.03%		2,253		25.85%		8,718
	Caddo		7,683		70.41%		2,921		26.77%		308		2.82%		4,762		43.64%		10,912
	Canadian		11,400		78.28%		2,751		18.89%		413		2.84%		8,649		59.39%		14,564
	Carter		9,368		66.41%		4,577		32.45%		161		1.14%		4,791		33.96%		14,106
	Cherokee		7,080		69.37%		2,899		28.40%		227		2.22%		4,181		40.97%		10,206
	Choctaw		3,399		64.40%		1,798		34.07%		81		1.53%		1,601		30.33%		5,278
	Cimarron		1,350		71.62%		323		17.14%		212		11.25%		1,027		54.48%		1,885
	Cleveland		25,777		68.71%		11,126		29.66%		615		1.64%		14,651		39.05%		37,518
	Coal		1,461		67.05%		680		31.21%		38		1.74%		781		35.84%		2,179
	Comanche		19,759		79.85%		4,559		18.42%		427		1.73%		15,200		61.43%		24,745
	Cotton		2,050		70.23%		798		27.34%		71		2.43%		1,252		42.89%		2,919
	Craig		4,163		70.36%		1,642		27.75%		112		1.89%		2,521		42.61%		5,917
	Creek		12,396		75.11%		3,705		22.45%		402		2.44%		8,691		52.66%		16,503
	Custer		7,267		74.30%		2,298		23.50%		215		2.20%		4,969		50.80%		9,780
	Delaware		5,476		70.30%		2,135		27.41%		178		2.29%		3,341		42.89%		7,789
	Dewey		2,106		74.79%		626		22.23%		84		2.98%		1,480		52.56%		2,816
	Ellis		2,059		77.76%		473		17.86%		116		4.38%		1,586		59.90%		2,648
	Garfield		19,348		79.07%		4,557		18.62%		564		2.30%		14,791		60.45%		24,469
	Garvin		7,245		70.72%		2,685		26.21%		315		3.07%		4,560		44.51%		10,245
	Grady		7,762		67.50%		3,440		29.92%		297		2.58%		4,322		37.58%		11,499
	Grant		2,829		75.34%		805		21.44%		121		3.22%		2,024		53.90%		3,755
	Greer		2,154		66.40%		1,004		30.95%		86		2.65%		1,150		35.45%		3,244
	Harmon		1,319		68.38%		568		29.45%		42		2.18%		751		38.93%		1,929
	Harper		1,976		79.84%		385		15.56%		114		4.61%		1,591		64.28%		2,475
	Haskell		2,815		63.12%		1,408		31.57%		237		5.31%		1,407		31.55%		4,460
	Hughes		3,497		64.86%		1,787		33.14%		108		2.00%		1,710		31.72%		5,392
	Jackson		5,519		71.61%		2,054		26.65%		134		1.74%		3,465		44.96%		7,707
	Jefferson		1,709		62.12%		969		35.22%		73		2.65%		740		26.90%		2,751
	Johnston		2,205		67.72%		983		30.19%		68		2.09%		1,222		37.53%		3,256
	Kay		17,244		78.44%		4,246		19.31%		494		2.25%		12,998		59.13%		21,984
	Kingfisher		4,861		81.90%		912		15.37%		162		2.73%		3,949		66.53%		5,935
	Kiowa		3,711		69.81%		1,495		28.12%		110		2.07%		2,216		41.69%		5,316
	Latimer		2,520		64.80%		1,239		31.86%		130		3.34%		1,281		32.94%		3,889
	LeFlore		7,932		67.45%		3,433		29.19%		394		3.35%		4,499		38.26%		11,759
	Lincoln		6,512		74.98%		1,919		22.10%		254		2.92%		4,593		52.88%		8,685
	Logan		6,543		68.85%		2,760		29.04%		200		2.10%		3,783		39.81%		9,503
	Love		1,407		66.75%		671		31.83%		30		1.42%		736		34.92%		2,108
	McClain		4,241		73.16%		1,350		23.29%		206		3.55%		2,891		49.87%		5,797
	McCurtain		6,441		70.20%		2,568		27.99%		166		1.81%		3,873		42.21%		9,175
	McIntosh		3,216		63.89%		1,686		33.49%		132		2.62%		1,530		30.40%		5,034
	Major		3,203		83.89%		512		13.41%		103		2.70%		2,691		70.48%		3,818
	Marshall		2,273		65.37%		1,113		32.01%		91		2.62%		1,160		33.36%		3,477
	Mayes		7,535		72.08%		2,656		25.41%		263		2.52%		4,879		46.67%		10,454
	Murray		2,983		68.23%		1,294		29.60%		95		2.17%		1,689		38.63%		4,372
	Muskogee		15,161		65.65%		7,380		31.96%		551		2.39%		7,781		33.69%		23,092
	Noble		4,085		78.38%		999		19.17%		128		2.46%		3,086		59.21%		5,212
	Nowata		3,293		72.61%		1,096		24.17%		146		3.22%		2,197		48.44%		4,535
	Okfuskee		2,862		66.73%		1,328		30.96%		99		2.31%		1,534		35.77%		4,289
	Oklahoma		156,437		75.24%		46,986		22.60%		4,502		2.17%		109,451		52.64%		207,925
	Okmulgee		8,706		63.82%		4,494		32.94%		442		3.24%		4,212		30.88%		13,642
	Osage		9,288		73.77%		2,968		23.57%		335		2.66%		6,320		50.20%		12,591
	Ottawa		8,348		68.63%		3,657		30.07%		158		1.30%		4,691		38.56%		12,163
	Pawnee		4,280		77.30%		1,135		20.50%		122		2.20%		3,145		56.80%		5,537
	Payne		17,019		73.77%		5,644		24.46%		407		1.76%		11,375		49.31%		23,070
	Pittsburg		9,989		66.42%		4,748		31.57%		303		2.01%		5,241		34.85%		15,040
	Pontotoc		8,762		72.04%		3,160		25.98%		240		1.97%		5,602		46.06%		12,162
	Pottawatomie		13,308		71.30%		4,822		25.84%		534		2.86%		8,486		45.46%		18,664
	Pushmataha		2,456		68.24%		1,016		28.23%		127		3.53%		1,440		40.01%		3,599
	Roger Mills		1,696		78.16%		420		19.35%		54		2.49%		1,276		58.81%		2,170
	Rogers		9,697		76.19%		2,607		20.48%		424		3.33%		7,090		55.71%		12,728
	Seminole		6,879		70.02%		2,746		27.95%		199		2.03%		4,133		42.07%		9,824
	Sequoyah		6,842		71.64%		2,519		26.37%		190		1.99%		4,323		45.27%		9,551
			10,309		71.61%		3,623		25.17%		464		3.22%		6,686		46.44%		14,396
	Texas		5,726		82.54%		924		13.32%		287		4.14%		4,802		69.22%		6,937
	Tillman		3,331		70.92%		1,256		26.74%		110		2.34%		2,075		44.18%		4,697
	Tulsa		125,278		77.75%		32,779		20.34%		3,069		1.90%		92,499		57.41%		161,126
	Wagoner		6,569		72.13%		2,257		24.78%		281		3.09%		4,312		47.35%		9,107
	Washington		16,347		79.74%		3,658		17.84%		495		2.41%		12,689		61.90%		20,500
	Washita		3,578		71.45%		1,305		26.06%		125		2.50%		2,273		45.39%		5,008
	Woods		4,413		76.23%		1,234		21.32%		142		2.45%		3,179		54.91%		5,789
	Woodward		5,350		80.05%		1,104		16.52%		229		3.43%		4,246		63.53%		6,683
Totals	759,025	73.70%	247,147	24.00%	23,728	2.30%	511,878	49.70%	1,029,900

Counties that flipped American Independent to Republican

• Atoka

Counties that flipped Democratic to Republican

• Bryan
• Carter
• Choctaw
• Coal
• Cotton
• Garvin
• Grady
• Greer
• Haskell
• Hughes
• Jackson
• Jefferson
• Johnston
• LeFlore
• Latimer
• Love
• McCurtain
• McIntosh
• Murray
• Muskogee
• Okfuskee
• Okmulgee
• Pontotoc
• Pittsburg
• Seminole
• Tillman
• Wagoner

See also

• United States presidential elections in Oklahoma

Notes and References

1. Web site: 1972 Presidential Election Statistics. Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. 2018-03-05.
2. Dave Leip’s Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections; 1968 Presidential General Election Results – Oklahoma
3. Perry, James Moorhead; Us and Them: How the Press Covered the 1972 Election, p. 136 .
4. Grantham, Dewey W.; The Life and Death of the Solid South: A Political History, p. 179 .
5. Davis, Lanny; Scandal: How "Gotcha" Politics Is Destroying America, pp. 65–66 .
6. Menendez Albert J.; The Geography of Presidential Elections in the United States, pp. 99, 282–283 .
7. See Judis, John B., and Teixeira, Ruy; The Emerging Democratic Majority, p. 19 .
8. Web site: 1972 Presidential General Election Results – Oklahoma. 2016-02-09 . Dave Leip’s U.S. Election Atlas.