1972 United States presidential election in Wisconsin explained

See main article: 1972 United States presidential election.

Election Name:	1972 United States presidential election in Wisconsin
Country:	Wisconsin
Flag Year:	1913
Type:	presidential
Ongoing:	no
Previous Election:	1968 United States presidential election in Wisconsin
Previous Year:	1968
Next Election:	1976 United States presidential election in Wisconsin
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:	11
Popular Vote1:	989,430
Percentage1:	53.40%
Nominee2:	George McGovern
Party2:	Democratic Party (United States)
Home State2:	South Dakota
Running Mate2:	Sargent Shriver
Electoral Vote2:	0
Popular Vote2:	810,174
Percentage2:	43.72%
Map Size:	290px
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 Wisconsin was held on November 7, 1972 as part of the 1972 United States presidential election. Incumbent President Richard Nixon won the state of Wisconsin with 53.40 percent of the vote, carrying the state's 11 electoral votes,^[1] although Wisconsin was the fifth most Democratic state during the election, voting 13.48 points more Democratic than the nation as a whole. In no other election since the emergence of the Republican Party has Wisconsin voted so much more Democratic than the country as a whole.^[2]

McGovern won seven counties (out of 131 county-equivalents including three in Alaska that he won nationally)^[3] receiving as usual his highest vote in almost wholly Native American Menominee County where he won 62.3 percent of the vote. McGovern and Shriver also achieved clear majorities in Milwaukee, Dane, Ashland, Douglas and Portage Counties, and Rusk County by 1.1 points. Nixon won Manitowoc County by one hundred and ten votes, achieved pluralities in Pepin, Chippewa and Forest Counties, and won majorities in the remaining sixty-one – the largest being in Waupaca County where Nixon won by forty-two percentage points. Rusk County was one of six nationwide (outside of McGovern's home state of South Dakota) to flip Democratic from the previous election.

Nixon became the first Republican since Warren G. Harding in 1920 to win Iron County, and was the last Republican until Donald Trump in 2016 to win Pepin and Kenosha Counties, and remains the last Republican to claim Bayfield County.^[4]

Primaries

Democratic

Election Name:	1972 Wisconsin Democratic Party presidential primary
Country:	Wisconsin
Type:	primary
Ongoing:	no
Previous Election:	1968 United States Presidential Election in Wisconsin
Previous Year:	1968
Election Date:	April 4, 1972
Next Election:	1976 United States Presidential Election in Wisconsin
Next Year:	1976
Colour1:	ff0000
Candidate1:	George McGovern
Home State1:	South Dakota
Popular Vote1:	333,528
Percentage1:	29.55%
Candidate2:	George Wallace
Colour2:	008000
Home State2:	Alabama
Popular Vote2:	248,676
Percentage2:	22.03%
Candidate3:	Hubert Humphrey
Colour3:	0000ff
Home State3:	Minnesota
Popular Vote3:	233,748
Percentage3:	20.71%
Candidate4:	Edmund Muskie
Colour4:	803300
Home State4:	Maine
Popular Vote4:	115,811
Percentage4:	10.26%
Candidate5:	Henry M. Jackson
Colour5:	6500ea
Home State5:	Washington
Popular Vote5:	88,068
Percentage5:	7.80%
Candidate6:	John Lindsay
Colour6:	b61b28
Home State6:	New York
Popular Vote6:	75,579
Percentage6:	6.70%
Map Size:	290px

George McGovern defeated Alabama Governer, George Wallace, and previous Democratic nominee, Hubert Humphrey in the Wisconsin presidential primary on April 4, 1972

Republican

Incumbent president Richard Nixon easily defeated token opposition from Pete McCloskey and John M. Ashbrook.

Results

1972 United States presidential election in Wisconsin^[5] ^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Republican	Richard Nixon (incumbent)	989,430	53.40%	11
	Democratic	George McGovern	810,174	43.72%	0
	American	John G. Schmitz	47,525	2.56%	0
	People's	Benjamin Spock	2,701	0.15%	0
	Socialist Labor	Louis Fisher	998	0.05%	0
	Communist	Gus Hall	663	0.04%	0
	Socialist Workers	Evelyn Reed	506	0.03%	0
	Write-in	Scattering	893	0.05%	0
Totals			1,852,890	100.00%	11

Results by county

County	Richard Nixon Republican		George McGovern Democratic		John G. Schmitz American		Benjamin Spock People's		All Others Various		Margin		Total votes cast
County		%		%		%		%		%		%	Total votes cast
	Adams		2,200		53.18%		1,833		44.31%		96		2.32%	3	0.07%	5	0.12%	367	8.87%	4,137
	Ashland		3,478		46.91%		3,771		50.86%		135		1.82%	5	0.07%	25	0.34%	-293	-3.95%	7,414
	Barron		8,418		59.89%		5,376		38.25%		211		1.50%	21	0.15%	29	0.21%	3,042	21.64%	14,055
	Bayfield		3,045		51.79%		2,736		46.54%		74		1.26%	4	0.07%	20	0.34%	309	5.26%	5,879
	Brown		37,101		56.49%		26,511		40.37%		1,907		2.90%	94	0.14%	62	0.09%	10,590	16.12%	65,675
	Buffalo		3,079		54.28%		2,461		43.39%		110		1.94%	4	0.07%	18	0.32%	618	10.90%	5,672
	Burnett		2,972		54.37%		2,389		43.71%		92		1.68%	8	0.15%	5	0.09%	583	10.66%	5,466
	Calumet		6,446		55.85%		4,804		41.62%		243		2.11%	31	0.27%	18	0.16%	1,642	14.23%	11,542
	Chippewa		8,451		49.35%		8,210		47.95%		416		2.43%	34	0.20%	12	0.07%	241	1.40%	17,123
	Clark		7,138		56.47%		4,617		36.52%		859		6.80%	18	0.14%	9	0.07%	2,521	19.95%	12,641
	Columbia		10,122		58.02%		7,083		40.60%		216		1.24%	11	0.06%	15	0.09%	3,039	17.42%	17,447
	Crawford		3,705		58.67%		2,487		39.38%		115		1.82%	5	0.08%	3	0.05%	1,218	19.29%	6,315
	Dane		56,020		40.84%		79,567		58.00%		1,040		0.76%	219	0.16%	331	0.24%	-23,547	-17.17%	137,177
	Dodge		17,068		61.54%		9,898		35.69%		715		2.58%	29	0.10%	27	0.10%	7,170	25.85%	27,737
	Door		6,503		64.25%		3,430		33.89%		167		1.65%	18	0.18%	3	0.03%	3,073	30.36%	10,121
	Douglas		8,419		42.58%		11,054		55.91%		202		1.02%	36	0.18%	60	0.30%	-2,635	-13.33%	19,771
	Dunn		6,660		53.00%		5,681		45.21%		185		1.47%	16	0.13%	23	0.18%	979	7.79%	12,565
	Eau Claire		15,883		51.28%		14,300		46.17%		671		2.17%	57	0.18%	60	0.19%	1,583	5.11%	30,971
	Florence		971		54.06%		757		42.15%		64		3.56%	1	0.06%	3	0.17%	214	11.91%	1,796
	Fond du Lac		21,007		60.94%		12,050		34.96%		1,291		3.75%	55	0.16%	67	0.19%	8,957	25.98%	34,470
	Forest		1,856		49.77%		1,678		45.00%		190		5.10%	4	0.11%	1	0.03%	178	4.77%	3,729
	Grant		11,873		62.29%		6,915		36.28%		240		1.26%	15	0.08%	18	0.09%	4,958	26.01%	19,061
	Green		7,422		66.14%		3,634		32.38%		145		1.29%	13	0.12%	8	0.07%	3,788	33.76%	11,222
	Green Lake		5,046		67.67%		2,174		29.15%		227		3.04%	6	0.08%	4	0.05%	2,872	38.52%	7,457
	Iowa		4,387		57.53%		3,131		41.06%		97		1.27%	7	0.09%	4	0.05%	1,256	16.47%	7,626
	Iron		1,723		49.93%		1,648		47.75%		70		2.03%	5	0.14%	5	0.14%	75	2.18%	3,451
	Jackson		3,937		60.79%		2,445		37.75%		84		1.30%	9	0.14%	1	0.02%	1,492	23.04%	6,476
	Jefferson		14,621		59.32%		9,303		37.74%		611		2.48%	22	0.09%	91	0.37%	5,318	21.58%	24,648
	Juneau		4,833		60.19%		2,943		36.65%		237		2.95%	7	0.09%	10	0.12%	1,890	23.54%	8,030
	Kenosha		24,041		53.93%		19,441		43.61%		966		2.17%	66	0.15%	62	0.14%	4,600	10.32%	44,576
	Kewaunee		4,802		57.15%		3,360		39.99%		229		2.73%	11	0.13%	1	0.01%	1,442	17.16%	8,403
	La Crosse		21,992		63.29%		12,152		34.97%		541		1.56%	36	0.10%	25	0.07%	9,840	28.32%	34,746
	Lafayette		4,898		62.91%		2,804		36.01%		73		0.94%	6	0.08%	5	0.06%	2,094	26.90%	7,786
	Langlade		4,368		57.26%		3,011		39.47%		238		3.12%	6	0.08%	6	0.08%	1,357	17.79%	7,629
	Lincoln		6,206		57.25%		4,175		38.51%		437		4.03%	11	0.10%	11	0.10%	2,031	18.74%	10,840
	Manitowoc		16,599		48.48%		16,489		48.16%		1,070		3.13%	38	0.11%	41	0.12%	110	0.32%	34,237
	Marathon		21,454		51.24%		18,500		44.18%		1,813		4.33%	42	0.10%	63	0.15%	2,954	7.05%	41,872
	Marinette		8,740		57.36%		5,900		38.72%		537		3.52%	40	0.26%	21	0.14%	2,840	18.64%	15,238
	Marquette		2,682		62.53%		1,537		35.84%		54		1.26%	6	0.14%	10	0.23%	1,145	26.70%	4,289
	Menominee		355		36.37%		608		62.30%		11		1.13%	2	0.20%	0	0.00%	-253	-25.93%	976
	Milwaukee		191,874		46.02%		210,802		50.55%		12,567		3.01%	724	0.17%	1,010	0.24%	-18,928	-4.54%	416,977
	Monroe		7,625		66.68%		3,640		31.83%		149		1.30%	10	0.09%	12	0.10%	3,985	34.85%	11,436
	Oconto		6,511		59.38%		4,041		36.85%		385		3.51%	13	0.12%	15	0.14%	2,470	22.53%	10,965
	Oneida		6,811		58.83%		4,262		36.81%		471		4.07%	23	0.20%	10	0.09%	2,549	22.02%	11,577
	Outagamie		27,533		59.80%		17,447		37.89%		896		1.95%	101	0.22%	67	0.15%	10,086	21.91%	46,044
	Ozaukee		15,759		61.88%		8,503		33.39%		1,149		4.51%	20	0.08%	35	0.14%	7,256	28.49%	25,466
	Pepin		1,458		49.21%		1,409		47.55%		86		2.90%	5	0.17%	5	0.17%	49	1.65%	2,963
	Pierce		5,899		50.35%		5,611		47.89%		184		1.57%	10	0.09%	12	0.10%	288	2.46%	11,716
	Polk		6,567		52.40%		5,738		45.78%		204		1.63%	11	0.09%	13	0.10%	829	6.62%	12,533
	Portage		9,346		40.04%		13,564		58.11%		365		1.56%	46	0.20%	20	0.09%	-4,218	-18.07%	23,341
	Price		3,694		54.39%		2,831		41.68%		250		3.68%	2	0.03%	15	0.22%	863	12.71%	6,792
	Racine		38,490		56.41%		27,778		40.71%		1,785		2.62%	101	0.15%	82	0.12%	10,712	15.70%	68,236
	Richland		5,062		66.14%		2,492		32.56%		90		1.18%	3	0.04%	7	0.09%	2,570	33.58%	7,654
	Rock		30,361		58.03%		21,033		40.20%		823		1.57%	65	0.12%	37	0.07%	9,328	17.83%	52,319
	Rusk		3,007		47.89%		3,075		48.97%		176		2.80%	10	0.16%	11	0.18%	-68	-1.08%	6,279
	Sauk		10,285		58.70%		6,980		39.84%		204		1.16%	12	0.07%	41	0.23%	3,305	18.86%	17,522
	Sawyer		3,081		62.52%		1,765		35.82%		72		1.46%	7	0.14%	3	0.06%	1,316	26.70%	4,928
	Shawano		8,807		66.95%		3,940		29.95%		378		2.87%	7	0.05%	22	0.17%	4,867	37.00%	13,154
	Sheboygan		21,500		49.38%		21,114		48.50%		779		1.79%	81	0.19%	63	0.14%	386	0.89%	43,537
	St. Croix		8,553		52.50%		7,488		45.96%		213		1.31%	21	0.13%	16	0.10%	1,065	6.54%	16,291
	Taylor		4,125		55.76%		2,934		39.66%		313		4.23%	4	0.05%	22	0.30%	1,191	16.10%	7,398
	Trempealeau		5,723		56.69%		4,232		41.92%		126		1.25%	4	0.04%	10	0.10%	1,491	14.77%	10,095
	Vernon		6,836		65.71%		3,407		32.75%		127		1.22%	10	0.10%	23	0.22%	3,429	32.96%	10,403
	Vilas		4,422		65.92%		1,907		28.43%		366		5.46%	4	0.06%	9	0.13%	2,515	37.49%	6,708
	Walworth		17,823		65.95%		8,598		31.82%		485		1.79%	38	0.14%	79	0.29%	9,225	34.14%	27,023
	Washburn		3,220		56.84%		2,336		41.24%		96		1.69%	6	0.11%	7	0.12%	884	15.60%	5,665
	Washington		15,338		56.76%		10,434		38.61%		1,161		4.30%	45	0.17%	46	0.17%	4,904	18.15%	27,024
	Waukesha		59,399		60.85%		34,573		35.42%		3,404		3.49%	151	0.15%	95	0.10%	24,826	25.43%	97,622
	Waupaca		11,040		70.07%		4,418		28.04%		257		1.63%	20	0.13%	20	0.13%	6,622	42.03%	15,755
	Waushara		4,466		66.27%		2,094		31.07%		166		2.46%	8	0.12%	5	0.07%	2,372	35.20%	6,739
	Winnebago		29,488		57.28%		20,450		39.72%		1,400		2.72%	93	0.18%	51	0.10%	9,038	17.56%	51,482
	Wood		14,806		54.88%		10,415		38.60%		1,719		6.37%	25	0.09%	15	0.06%	4,391	16.28%	26,980
Totals	989,430	53.40%	810,174	43.72%	47,525	2.56%	2,701	0.15%	3,060	0.17%	179,256	9.67%	1,852,890

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

Rusk

Electors

These were the names of the electors on each ticket.^[5]

Notes and References

Web site: Dave Leip’s U.S. Election Atlas. 1972 Presidential General Election Results – Wisconsin. April 28, 2016.
Counting the Votes; Wisconsin
http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/stats.php?year=1972&f=1&off=0&elect=0 ‘1972 Presidential Election Statistics’
Sullivan, Robert David; ‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016
Wisconsin Historical Society, Statement of Board of State Canvassers for President, Vice President and Presidential Electors - General Election - November 7, 1972
Book: The State of Wisconsin Blue Book 1973. Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau. Vote For President And Vice President By County. Madison, Wisconsin. 817.