1968 United States presidential election in New Hampshire

The 1968 United States presidential election in New Hampshire took place on November 5, 1968, as part of the 1968 United States presidential election, which was held throughout all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Voters chose four representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

1968 United States presidential election In New Hampshire

← 1964 November 5, 1968 1972 →
 
Nominee Richard Nixon Hubert Humphrey
Party Republican Democratic
Home state New York[a] Minnesota
Running mate Spiro Agnew Edmund Muskie
Electoral vote 4 0
Popular vote 154,903 130,589
Percentage 52.10% 43.93%


President before election

Lyndon B. Johnson
Democratic

Elected President

Richard Nixon
Republican

New Hampshire was won by the Republican nominees, former Vice President Richard Nixon of California and his running mate Governor Spiro Agnew of Maryland. Nixon and Agnew defeated the Democratic nominees, incumbent Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey of Minnesota and his running mate Senator Edmund Muskie of Maine.

Nixon took 52.10% of the vote to Humphrey's 43.93%, a margin of 8.18%.[1]

Like the rest of Upper New England, New Hampshire in this era normally leaned Republican, however the state had voted overwhelmingly Democratic just four years earlier in 1964, when the staunch conservatism of Republican Barry Goldwater drove the liberal Northeastern United States, including New Hampshire, to deliver landslide victories to Democratic incumbent Lyndon B. Johnson. In 1964 Johnson had carried New Hampshire by a landslide 64–36 margin.

In 1968, the GOP sought to recover from their crippling defeat with Goldwater, and the party looked to former Vice President and the party’s narrowly defeated 1960 presidential nominee, Richard Nixon. Nixon was seen as a mainstream moderate Republican who could unite the competing factions of the Republican Party, and win back the moderate voters that Goldwater had alienated. The party recovered successfully and won back the White House and New Hampshire was returned to the Republican column. However, with four of the six New England states voting for Humphrey, New Hampshire became one of the two New England states (the other being neighboring Vermont) to vote for Nixon.

The “George Wallace Party” candidate, Southern populist Governor George Wallace of Alabama, did not have a serious impact on the race. While taking 13.53% nationally and winning electoral votes from five Southern states, Wallace would take only 3.76% of the vote in New Hampshire. Wallace’s base of support was in the South, and he had practically no appeal in Northeastern states like New Hampshire. New Hampshire would be Wallace’s fifth weakest state in the nation.

Results

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1968 United States presidential election in New Hampshire[1]
Party Candidate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Republican Richard Nixon 154,903 52.10% 4
Democratic Hubert H. Humphrey 130,589 43.93% 0
George Wallace Party George Wallace 11,173 3.76% 0
New Party Electors No Candidate[b] 421 0.14% 0
Write-ins Write-ins 109 0.04% 0
Socialist Workers Fred Halstead 104 0.03% 0
Totals 297,299 100.00% 4
Voter Turnout (Voting age/Registered) 70%/79%

Results by county

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County Richard Nixon[2]
Republican
Hubert Humphrey[2]
Democratic
George Wallace[2]
George Wallace Party
Various candidates[2]
Other parties
Margin Total votes cast
# % # % # % # % # %
Belknap 8,642 61.42% 4,942 35.12% 454 3.23% 33 0.23% 3,700 26.30% 14,071
Carroll 6,795 72.93% 2,163 23.22% 348 3.74% 11 0.12% 4,632 49.71% 9,317
Cheshire 10,702 52.64% 9,135 44.93% 441 2.17% 54 0.27% 1,567 7.71% 20,332
Coös 6,822 44.02% 8,261 53.31% 399 2.57% 15 0.10% -1,439 -9.29% 15,497
Grafton 12,881 59.76% 7,813 36.25% 727 3.37% 133 0.62% 5,068 23.51% 21,554
Hillsborough 42,409 46.01% 45,423 49.28% 4,231 4.59% 106 0.12% -3,014 -3.27% 92,169
Merrimack 19,289 57.94% 12,711 38.18% 1,201 3.61% 90 0.27% 6,578 19.76% 33,291
Rockingham 28,842 54.98% 21,195 40.41% 2,333 4.45% 86 0.16% 7,647 14.57% 52,456
Strafford 12,427 47.28% 13,129 49.95% 650 2.47% 77 0.29% -702 -2.67% 26,283
Sullivan 6,094 49.43% 5,817 47.19% 389 3.16% 28 0.23% 277 2.24% 12,328
Total 154,903 52.10% 130,589 43.93% 11,173 3.76% 634 0.21% 24,314 8.17% 297,299

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

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Analysis

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The county map results followed a familiar pattern of the post-New Deal era, with Nixon winning seven counties to Humphrey’s three. Since Franklin Roosevelt’s election in 1932, in every close election or Democratic victory, Hillsborough County, Strafford County, and Coös County would vote Democratic, while Carroll County would be the most Republican county. This pattern endured in 1968 for the last time, with Humphrey winning the three core New Deal Democratic counties, while Carroll County was the only county in the state where Nixon broke seventy percent of the vote. Humphrey's strongest county was Coös County, which he won by a 53–44 margin making this one of only three occurrences since 1892 where it has supported a losing presidential candidate. Nixon thus became the first Republican to win the White House without carrying Coös County since Benjamin Harrison in 1888 and the first ever to win without Strafford County.[3]

As Nixon narrowly eked out a victory over Humphrey nationally, New Hampshire's results in 1968 made the state about 7% more Republican than the national average. As of 2020, this is the most recent election in which New Hampshire was not the most Republican state in New England, as Nixon won Vermont by a slightly wider margin. Hillsborough County would not vote Democratic again until 1996, and Strafford County until 1992. Nixon had previously won New Hampshire in 1960 and would later win it again in 1972. Nixon's victory was the first of six consecutive Republican victories in the state, as New Hampshire would not vote for a Democratic candidate again until Bill Clinton in 1992. Since then it has become a Democratic-leaning swing state.

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Although he was born in California and he served as a U.S. Senator from California, in 1968 Richard Nixon’s official state of residence was New York, because he moved there to practice law after his defeat in the 1962 California gubernatorial election. During his first term as president, Nixon re-established his residency in California. Consequently, most reliable reference books list Nixon’s home state as New York in the 1968 election and his home state as California in the 1972 (and 1960) election.
  2. ^ These electors were originally pledged to Eugene McCarthy but withdrew their pledge before the poll.[2]

References

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  1. ^ a b "1968 Presidential General Election Results – New Hampshire". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved November 16, 2013.
  2. ^ a b c d e Our Campaigns; NH US President Race, November 05, 1968
  3. ^ The Political Graveyard; Coös County Votes for President